Exigency
by Kinsdura
Summary: A role-swap AU where Kurapika is the leader of the Phantom Troupe and Chrollo is out for revenge. /Done for the HxHBB 2016. M rating for violence depiction.
1. Chapter 1

_Ey guys! So this is the HxHBB I was talking about! It took forever, but it was definitely worth it! I don't know how I want to update this, but I won't upload it all at once! If you have an idea for what I can do let me know! I'll try to get it all out as soon as possible! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this!_

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Kurapika found himself becoming worried. Uvogin had been gone a while now. He glanced up from the book he was reading to observe the troupe below him. No one seemed to be very concerned over him being gone for so long; well, everyone except for Shalnark. The older blonde was fretting with his phone, looking at it every other second as if waiting for someone to call. It was driving him insane just by watching the other's face try to pretend like he wasn't worried. Kurapika sighed. "Shalnark, come over here please."

Shalnark looked up from his phone sharply, hiding the phone behind his back before letting it fall to his side. Kurapika motioned him to come to where he was sitting and he saw the other hang his head as he made his way to him.

"Yes Boss?" Shalnark asked when he got in front of Kurapika, not making eye contact with him. Kurapika frowned.

"Shal, I told you to call me by my name. I know I'm the leader of this group but you're technically my cousin. You can call me Kurapika."

Shalnark smiled a bit.

"Right."

Kurapika allowed a pause to pass in their conversation in hopes that it would ease the other before he started interrogating him.

"So tell me, what has you so agitated? Are you not confident in Uvogin's abilities to fight our opponent?" Kurapika questioned, watching his cousin's expressions when he asked. Shalnark's face twisted into anger, about to go on the offensive on Uvogin's behalf but sighed, not even pausing when he jumped next to the younger blonde to sit next to him.

"No, I'm just… I'm worried. He's a strong fighter, but we have no idea who this guy is or what his abilities are. What if he happens to beat Uvogin in a fashion we haven't imagined yet?" Shalnark asked, voicing his concerns as he continuously stared at his phone's monitor. "This guy seemed pretty serious. What if he manages to wipe out the Spider?"

Kurapika looked sharply at his cousin, who didn't bother to look up at him. He could feel anger bubble up inside of him but he suppressed his eyes from activating at something so simple as that. This was merely his cousin trying to make him known of his worries; no problem there right? Kurapika softened his gaze.

"Shalnark, do you want to go see if we can help him?"

Kurapika waited for a few seconds, watching as tears welled up in the other's eyes but did not fall.

"Yeah."

Kurapika nodded, getting up on his feet and closing his book, the other troupe members looking up as he did so.

"Shalnark, Machi, and Pakunoda will accompany me to find Uvogin. The rest of you will stay here until further instruction." he said, not even bothering to see if the others were going to obey his order or not. Despite how much he liked to tell the others that they shouldn't risk the Spider to fall, he prioritized everyone's safety above all else. A flaw in his otherwise perfect plan, but he knew that at least he was expendable. Shalnark could always take over, heck, he was sure Feitan would become leader if it came down to a situation where-

"Hey, Kurapika?"

The blonde looked up from his thoughts to see his cousin smiling down at him.

"Thanks. You didn't have to do this."

Kurapika smiled.

"No, I did. Let's find him in one piece shall we?"

Shalnark nodded, looking ahead of them with a genuine smile on his face. Kurapika just really hoped that Uvogin was alive so that he wouldn't have to see his cousin break down. As his only living blood family left, he wouldn't know what to do if Shalnark wanted revenge. He swallowed thickly, wondering that if the time came, if Pakunoda and Machi would hold him back.

He looked up and saw Pakunoda and Machi glancing at him, nodding when they met his gaze. He silently thanked them in his head. He felt his anxiety over the situation rise when he saw Machi frown before turning around towards the front, clenching her hands slightly. She had a hunch, and not a good one. Whatever awaited them was not going to be pleasant.


	2. Chapter 2

_Aaand the second chapter is ou_ _t! I'm honestly really excited to just show you guys all of it, but I must be patient. It wouldn't be too much fun without the suspense right? Anyway, I figured I'd post two chapters first and then see how I'd update from there. And again, enjoy~!_

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"Tell me, where are the rest of the Spiders?" A voice said from somewhere behind Uvogin, the chains biting into his skin tensely as he shifted his sitting position.

"I told ya, I ain't tellin ya a thing! You think you can get me to speak so freely, but I would never betray them!" Uvogin said, trying to get a decent view of the man whom had knocked him out. Sure, he could escape now, but what with the guy's indoor fish swimming about he wouldn't try a thing if he knew he could possibly get out of there alive.

"Okay, how about this then: do you remember when you destroyed the Nostrade and Mammon family companies a while back?" the voice probed again, this time right behind Uvogin. He tried to turn and look at his opponent but they seemed to disappear; the question still hung in the air.

"Nostrade? Mammon? I don't remember them." Uvogin said after a while, shrugging despite the pain the chains brought him from the action. "What about them? Were you friends with them or something?"

"Something like that." he heard the other man reply, a deadly sound coming from his voice alone despite how calm it seemed. Uvogin suppressed a shiver. He couldn't show fear now, not at this time. He waited till he finally heard footsteps, watching from the corner of his eye as a man with black hair and a bandage around his head stepped into his view, his perfectly clean suit and his jade orbed earrings mocking him as if to show that he wasn't even harmed from their skirmish beforehand. Uvogin grit his teeth. What a cocky bastard.

"Spider, would you like to know who I am?" the man asked, silver eyes glinting in amusement as he met Uvogin's annoyed ones, the troupe member swearing to himself to punch the other man's face when he was free. If he even felt like it at the time anyway.

"I don't give a damn who you are! You could be the king of another country and I'd still kill ya'!" the enhancer spat out, becoming confused when the other laughed at him darkly.

"I like you Spider. Perhaps if things were different we would've been great friends, but as of right now, you are to die by my hands if you don't give up any information."

"Good, cause I'd rather die than do that you asshole."

"Splendid! Because no matter what I had promised you, I would've killed you either way." he commented, tossing up an odd looking knife, catching it on the hilt when it came back down to him, looking over at Uvogin. "And because life is so unfair, you'll also get to learn who is killing you today."

Uvogin watched as the man before him tugged off the bandages around his forehead to reveal a cross tattoo located above his nose, right in the middle of his forehead… the same tattoo that Kurapika had on the back of his neck… Uvogin's eyes widened at it, about to question why he had it but froze when he saw the smile on the other's face.

"My name is Chrollo Lucilfer, and I will deliver death upon you so that you may compensate for your sins."


	3. Chapter 3

_Hello! Thank you for the reviews that I have already! I will answer them as soon as I'm done with today's update! I'm really happy a lot of you seem so interested, so I hope this fic can deliver a satisfying story!_

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Pakunoda, Machi, Shalnark, and Kurapika were all within range to hear Uvogin scream loudly, making their blood turn to ice.

"Kurapika…"

The said blonde looked back at his cousin, concern on his face as he saw him give a worried look towards where the sound came from.

"Do you think… do you think that was him?"

Kurapika really wanted to tell Shalnark that no, it wasn't Uvogin, it must be something else, surely not their business, but he knew that it was Uvogin. He heard Machi mutter under her breath something like "I knew it." and he had to tell himself to keep breathing when she did. It had just confirmed his gut feeling and had basically sealed Uvogin's fate.

Without another word, they all began sprinting towards where Uvogin's scream came from, most of them not even caring about the consequences of it being a potential trap at that point. They quickly reached the building where they figured he was located at, Kurapika sending them to scatter and find him.

"And remember, when you find him, get the rest of us before acting." he instructed before the others disappeared, already in separate wings of the building they had entered.

Kurapika found himself wondering if this was the right idea. Maybe they had the wrong place. He wanted to call off the whole search: coming here was a bad idea, he could feel it in his gut. He would've turned right around had he not seen a shadow move up ahead in the hallway he should've been walking down. Knowing it could be none of the others, he went to investigate. When he got there, Kurapika had to pause at the sight in front of him.

On the floor was Uvogin chained up, face on the floor and blood everywhere. Kurapika feared that he was dead. The amount of blood of the floor was far too large for him to still be alive.

"Might you happen to be the Phantom Troupe leader?"

Kurapika looked up from the bloodied body in front of him to see a tall black haired man in a suit, a bandage wrapped around his head and an odd knife in his right hand. The Kurta felt a feeling of deja vu but ignored it; perhaps he had seen the suit before and not just the person? He couldn't tell.

"What did you do to him?" he asked instead, walking past Uvogin to stand protectively between the mysterious man and the body. The other man chuckled.

"Don't worry, I only paralyzed him." he said, playing with the knife in his hand. "Though after you tell me the location of the rest of the Spiders, you'll all be dead."

Kurapika narrowed his eyes. "You didn't need to keep him alive."

"True, I didn't, but I have more leverage with a dying hostage than a dead one." he answered, and the blonde knew he was right. He didn't like where this was going.

"You're not an assassin nor are you a Blacklist Hunter; both would have surely just killed him and taken what they could get, but you, you have a motive. I would like to know who you are."

The other man frowned for the first time, his eyes darkening at not being remembered.

"You too, do not remember my face? Honestly, it would bring me at least some satisfaction to know that at least the leader of the Phantom Troupe would remember me, but I guess those hopes were too high." he said, gripping his knife in his hand, knuckles turning white. "I suppose it can't be helped; I'm sure it's hard for you to distinguish the difference between all the people you've killed."

The Kurta was confused at this point. Killed? They rarely killed, Kurapika had made sure of that, but he didn't remember leaving survivors from any of the times that they had gone on their killing sprees.

"I can't remember you if you don't tell me who you are. If this is for revenge, it took you some time to gain the strength enough to even challenge us, so the incident is from a long time ago. You've probably changed from then." Kurapika pointed out, hoping this would get him a straight answer.

The dark haired man gave him a blank look before smiling again.

"You have good observational skills, I'll give you that. Fine, I shall tell you who I am, but in return I want you to tell your subordinates to stay out of this."

Kurapika smiled back.

"Sounds like a deal."

He then snapped his fingers, Pakunoda, Machi, and Shalnark appearing behind him, his cousin almost in tears but holding onto his brave face.

"I want you three to take Uvogin back to base. He needs treatment." Kurapika said, Shalnark already by Uvogin's side and picking up the large man, Pakunoda going over to assist him without needing to be asked to. Machi paused but then clapped him on his shoulder twice, showing that she was following his orders but would come back as soon as possible. Kurapika nodded at her message, not taking his eyes of the man in black. When the other Spider's were gone, Kurapika summoned his chains to his hand. If this man could take down Uvogin he had to be cautious, no matter how much he was confident in his own abilities.

"Now who are you?" Kurapika asked, his voice echoing loudly in the empty room. The other only seemed to become more confident now that Pakunoda, Machi, and Shalnark were gone.

"I am Chrollo Lucilfer, son of Abaddon Mammon." he stated, a deadly smile spreading across his face as he continued. "And I am the one who shall condemn you to hell."

Kurapika had to refrain from reacting to the name "Mammon." The big family company of Mammon that had close relations to the Nostrade family, both families well known for their connections in the mafia world. The blonde clearly remembered why they had done their operation on wiping out those two families, but he couldn't figure out how the man in front of him had escaped. He grit his teeth in frustration.

"Then do you consider yourself an enemy of the Phantom Troupe?"

Chrollo paused, his smile turning into a thin line on his face when he reached up to his bandages, making sure he had Kurapika's attention before proceeding.

"Yes, I consider myself the enemy of the Phantom Troupe." and with that, the dark haired man pulled off the white cloth from his head, revealing the cross mark that Kurapika knew was on the back of his neck. He was stunned, if only for a moment by the revelation, and it was enough for Chrollo to get within attacking range, slashing at the Kurta's clothes with his knife.

"Wait!" Kurapika heard himself shout at the other man, dodging his attempts at cutting him without attacking back. "Why do you have that tattoo? What purpose does it serve?"

One final swipe was made at the blonde before he managed to make quite a distance between them, jumping onto the second floor balcony of the room. He mentally registered that the room was indeed a ballroom of a sorts. He turned his attention back to the man on the main floor and felt almost guilty for making the other go through the pain of losing his family, but it was quickly erased. He had his reasons for his actions and he would stand by them.

"You want to know? Why I have your tattoo on my forehead? Well I'll tell you why: it's a reminder of that day. The day after you took everything from me. My family, my home, my future, and…" he paused, looking up at Kurapika with hate filling his silver eyes. "My fiancé."


	4. Chapter 4

_Oh I forgot to mention in the other notes, but for now I've decided to do two chapters a day until it's finally all posted! This will give me time to make sure everything is uploaded safely and that it is indeed, a steady stream of updates. Enjoy~_

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Chrollo could remember the day he lost everything very well. He was tempted to say the memory was like yesterday, but no, it was more crystal clear than that. He lived through the memories everyday as he struggled onward, pushed to live through the ruin he had been brought. He had lost his caring father, his siblings, his fiancé, and thusly his extended family.

He remembered when his father had first found him in the dumps of Meteor City. It had turned out that he was the illegitimate child of Abaddon Mammon. Apparently his mother was a poor woman who had died shortly after giving birth to him, a woman who was supposed to be his father's wife had she not experienced an early end. He had been lost in the confusion of Meteor City inhabitants and his father could not find him until years later. He had forgiven him, happy to have a family for once.

Despite being welcomed into this new family, Chrollo stubbornly clung onto the last name of his mother, Lucilfer, in attempt to have gained at least one thing from her. Abaddon allowed it after a while despite persisting that the boy take his name, but Chrollo refused. Soon after Chrollo had started adjusting to better living, he met his brothers, both whom were younger than him, yet acted as guides to understanding the upper class world. He eventually learned about the family trade of working their parts in the black market, keeping connections to the mafia, and even getting a few self defense lessons, that he quickly deemed useless due to already knowing how to fight. After being apart of the family for a few months, a close friend of the family's came over. The Nostrade family.

Light Nostrade and his daughter Neon were not his favorite people, but considering that they knew and treated his father well, he had no qualms with being polite. Unbeknownst to him, he was set up to be married to Neon, in order to keep the family ties closer. Chrollo had accepted on his father's behalf, having no particular attraction to the girl whatsoever, but she seemed infatuated with him. It took her a few weeks to even get out more than a couple sentences to him whenever they met, but she eventually began to act as she did with everyone else around. She was selfish and spoiled, and despite Chrollo disliking that about her, he held firm in his agreement for his father's sake.

A month after the arranged marriage had been proposed and he had learned many things about his wife-to-be. Not only was she weird in her ways of being able to write prophecies without remembering them, but also because she liked to collect human body parts. He had thought it odd, but found no problem in it because he figured that if the people were dead it didn't matter what happened to their remains afterwards, though he thought of it that way with a high level of disgust. It was also a month afterwards that Neon became obsessed with getting something called the Scarlet Eyes, but none were on the market, not even through underground channels. She was adamant on having them though, and Chrollo had assumed that this was another fit of hers and ignored it, instead deciding to continue reading in the vast library the Nostrade family maintained. A few days afterwards and his dad and brothers had shown up with all that they commanded in their company as well. Chrollo thought it was weird but didn't comment, especially after his father had told him that "It's not important." and that "There's nothing to worry about."

His father and brothers stood with them for about a week when Neon had eventually come to show him her collection of Scarlet Eyes; set after set of glowing red orbs following their movements. He was obviously surprised and asked where she got them. She didn't answer him but instead kept going on and on about their color and how gorgeous they were. He agreed on their beauty but became suspicious when she didn't answer him when he repeated his question on where she had gotten them. Chrollo decided to ask his dad when he next saw him, but at that moment all of the lights in the building had gone out.

Chrollo immediately ducked into a closet, accidentally knocking a jug of water down and all over him, though he didn't care. The lights going out felt like a foreboding sign; he knew all too well how people killed in Meteor City.

His eyes adjusted quickly to the dark, spotting Neon immediately. He would've called out to her but heard footsteps approaching the showing room. He held his breath.

"Father? Is that you?" he heard Neon ask, and he knew she was dead in that moment.

Two men came from separate doors into the room, one with a sword and another with nothing but his fists. The second man in white and gold started winding his arm.

"Hey Feitan, batter up!" he shouted, throwing a punch at Neon's face.

The other one named Feitan was already behind the girl, his sword cutting at her back, the force of the punch to her head forcing her body through the sword and to be sliced cleanly in half. Chrollo stared in horror as blood gushed to the ground from the two parts of his fiancé's body. Feitan and the taller man high fived each other, the one in gold grinning madly.

"Hey, do you think that'd count as a home run?" he asked, already starting to walk out of the room.

"Shut up _baichi_ , now isn't the time for jokes. Let's go report to the boss that we've found the eyes."

The taller one nodded, but was still smiling. He nudged the shorter man's shoulder.

"You still haven't answered my question."

The other one seemed to huff but smiled slightly back.

"...yeah, probably a home run."

"Hell yeah! That's what I'm talking about!"

Chrollo watched the two men in horror as they walked out of the room, sucking in a breath of air when he could no longer hear them. He stood up and got out of the closet, pushing the door only enough for him to get through. He then discarded his suit top and his fancy shirt, instead grabbing a coat from the hangers behind him. He also switched out his dress shoes with boots just a little too big for him in a hurry. If he wanted to escape, he had to make sure he didn't look like anyone the target was after, but more importantly, there was no way he could run in such proper attire.

Soon he was out of the showroom and out into the hall, making sure to avoid any footsteps he heard, whether they were friend or foe. He soon came upon the library on the second floor, hoping to at least find a better pair of boots before he actually encountered trouble. He entered the room quickly, locating the closet and going into it, leaving it open a little bit before he spotted it: another pair of eyes. He cursed under his breath, fumbling around for a pair of boots he knew he had left here on a particularly muddy day.

"There's... a pair missing?"

"Yeah, the shipment papers had one more accounted for."

Chrollo froze at the voices, not wanting to risked being heard. He turned his head to peek outside the crack of the door. He was greeted by a young blonde child stumbling into the room, holding his eyes and chains dangling from his hands.

"Boss! Are you alright?"

Chrollo saw this voice come from a large man with large hands, looking worriedly at the kid.

"I'm... I'm alright. We need to just get the last one right? And then we can leave?" he heard the boy ask, and he felt bad for him a bit. The boy sounded like he was in pain, but he stopped himself from delving further into feeling for the other. He seemed to be with the enemy.

"Yeah," the large man answered, spotting the Scarlet Eyes and walking over to it, taking them gently into his hands. "It's been recovered though. You don't need to worry about it."

The blonde sighed in relief, almost in the form of a sob.

"Thank you Franklin."

Two other people came into the library; a tall woman in a suit and another blonde boy, though he was much older than the first blonde.

"Is he okay?" the older blonde asked, rushing to the younger boy, who was still holding his eyes.

"He said so, but…" the one named Franklin traveled off, scratching at the back of his neck with a free hand.

"My eyes," the young boss said, more directed to the other blonde than anyone else. "My eyes hurt Shal, what do I do? How do I make them stop? Please, make it stop…"

Again Chrollo felt pity for the boy but had to steel himself off from his emotions. The boy was eleven at most, so the fact that he lead the operation seemed impossible to him, but then again, his family dying in one night seemed impossible too. And the Nostrade family. And Neon. He suddenly felt angry, without really knowing a reason why. Maybe it was because they had disrespected her death? Killed them without reason? He didn't know, but they were just a bunch of common thieves, how could they go through his father's and Nostrade's defenses like that?

"Boss, what might that be on your hand?" The woman in the suit asked, bending down to take a closer look at the hand that had chains on it. The boy shook his head, but Franklin seemed to know the answer, for he whispered it in her ear. She looked shocked by the truth and looked at Franklin for confirmation on his info but he just shrugged.

"I saw him use it. What more do you want?"

The woman just stared at him a while before nodding in an understanding manner. Meanwhile the older blonde had gotten some of the pain to go away from the boy, though Chrollo didn't understand how because the older one was whispering the instructions. The boy eventually looked up after a few more people showed up, including Neon's murderers.

"They don't hurt anymore." the young boss announced, and he got a relieved smile from the group.

"That's good. Now that that's better, we gotta get going before anyone shows up. Oh, and before we get caught up in the detonation of this building." the short one, Feitan said, holding a hand towards the boy. The boy accepted it and giggled when Feitan had made a silly face at him when he did. And that's when Chrollo saw it.

When the young blonde's hair moved out of the way, it revealed a tattoo of an odd looking cross on the boy's neck. He wondered why it was there.

"Hey Feitan, are you sure I should be leader? I'm too weak and-"

"Nonsense." he interrupted, taking the boy into his arms and picking him up. "We made you the leader of the Phantom Troupe for many reasons. Not being strong doesn't make you unworthy. As long as you have dreams for the future, you'll keep growing stronger in order to fulfill those goals you've set for yourself, so don't worry about things like that, okay?"

The boy paused at what Feitan had said, then nodded after a few more seconds had passed.

"Alright. Thank you Feitan." he said, hugging the short man around the neck. "And now we should leave. I don't want to hurt the rest of you because you had to comfort me."

A tan man with wild hair laughed at that, drawing everyone's attention to him.

"We don't hafta, we just want to! But you're right Boss, let's get going!"

They then all vanished out of the room, a long silence following them. Chrollo's mind kicked into high gear as soon as they were gone, realizing that there would be bombs blowing the building up in minutes. He quickly changed his boots and began running out of the building, paying no heed to whether or not the Phantom Troupe members were still around. The Phantom Troupe. He would remember that. The people he needed to get his revenge on. In a few seconds everything he held dear would be taken away, and he knew who to blame it on.


	5. Chapter 5

_Exciting news! I finished uploading the 30th chapter already, and I'm debating on whether I should stop for a while or just finish it all out... I'm not quite sure. Anyway, they'll all be posted eventually, so no worries for you guys!_

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"After the destruction of the Nostrade and Mammon companies, I was forced onto the streets and did the only thing I had picked up from Meteor City: survive." Chrollo told Kurapika, walking over to where some stairs led up to the blonde's position on the second floor balcony.

"Let me guess, you resorted to becoming a thief?" Kurapika asked, keeping an eye on the man in black as he made his way slowly up the stairs.

"Of course; what else was I to do? I ended up growing stronger because of that though, and I learned a lot about _nen_ and all that came with it. My ability is a way for me to get my fairy tale ending to the massacre that you orchestrated."

"I pegged you more as an intellectual rather than a fantasy believer." the blonde replied smugly, leaning on the railing in front of him casually.

"I have my fair share of favorites in the fantasy genre, yes, but you assumed correctly with me being an intellectual. I much prefer there be a reason for huge events happening with high consequences that follow." he said back, looking at Kurapika with heat. "An example being that in return for you killing my family, I will kill yours."

Kurapika scoffed.

"You already have."

Chrollo paused in his ascending of the stairs, his face trying to stay blank but failing as surprise showed itself.

"I what?"

"You already have. Your father's men were sent to annihilate the Kurta clan for their Scarlet Eyes, upon which the Phantom Troupe came and killed them, taking the eyes back as we did." The Spider head gave Chrollo a questioning look. "Are you sure you're part of the Mammon family?"

Chrollo only stared at him, seeming to want to not believe what he said.

"You're a Kurta?"

It was Kurapika's turn to pause.

"I… Yes?"

"So you're telling me that when Neon got all of those Scarlet Eyes… they were all new…"

"Yes, because the Mammon family decided to aid in the Nostrade family's spoiled brat of a daughter's quest in gaining the Scarlet Eyes. Being in connections with the Kurta clan after having left, we had gotten news that the Nostrade family had tried to offer a peace treaty. Ha! What a joke." Kurapika laughed dryly, looking out over the ballroom, his focus landing on the pool of blood that had been from Uvogin. "Anyway, after the negotiations fell apart after the clan had denied any treaty offered to them, they were threatened with the Mammon family's armed forces."

"Wait! Father never told me about armed forces-"

"Then he deceived you. Simple as that. Because my clan was annihilated by those soldiers. From now on you should assume that your supposed father has told you jack about anything he was truly involved in. And that he was a murderer."

Chrollo climbed the rest of the stairs angrily, the Kurta turning to look at him with intrigue, meeting the other's glaring eyes.

"Don't talk badly about my father." he growled out, his silver eyes flashing dangerously.

"Oh?" Kurapika asked, turning completely around with a smug smile on his face. "Do you truly think that that man was a virtuous one? I would laugh if that wasn't so insulting to the people who actually have a heart. That man has lead militarized campaigns against many nations and groups in order to gain riches from their land and people, only to turn around and sell them on the black market as if they were his to give away." the blonde recited from the back of his mind, remembering the quick research the Phantom Troupe had done on the family before realizing they were a worthy target to completely obliterate. "In fact, we found that, out of his many future plans, he was going to go back to Meteor City to continue a previous plan he had already initiated. What was it… I think it was called something like 'Plan 28DVH' or something ridiculous sounding like that. Apparently that'd get him in connections with another mafia family or something of that kind." Kurapika said, waving his hand dismissively.

"'Plan 28DVH?'" Chrollo repeated to himself, feeling like it had something to do with him, though he was looking at Kurapika for an answer, despite his anger at the blonde. "You know what it stands for don't you?"

"Hmm, it's been a while. Probably six years? What makes you think I remembered what it meant?" the Kurta asked, walking over the dark haired man, releasing the _nen_ chains away from his hands. He wouldn't need them for this.

Chrollo clenched his jaw and was about to probably say something stupid when Kurapika held up his hand in front of the others face, a grim look on his features.

"Plan 28DVH: Its purpose was to create many 'devoted heirs' to the Mammon family. The twenty-eight is supposed to represent the top twenty-eight largest and most influential mafia and assassin families in the known world. The whole project was to gain children he claimed as 'illegitimate' of his from Meteor City and give them everything they could want while marrying them off to other underground families while secretly doing business with them unbeknownst to the 'devoted heirs.'" Kurapika said, watching the other's face closely as he explained. "In other words: you were never his child, you were just his pawn."


	6. Chapter 6

_So as I was going through and transferring the fic, it turns out that I actually have 42 chapters, and not 41. I mean, unless you don't count the epilogue as a chapter, than my original number was accurate, however! I would still like to correct that, since it technically counts as a chapter on the site._

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It was starting to get really late, and Machi was getting more and more anxious as time went by. Pakunoda had convinced her to stay at the base before they all went running back to Kurapika. She had also said that he could handle the situation himself, but Machi called crap on that. It's not like she had a hunch that he'd lose; no, nothing as drastic as that, she was just worried for his wellbeing was all. She had promised to come back, so she needed to at least try to keep up her end right? Just as Machi was about to say she was leaving, the door to the base opened, Kurapika walking in unharmed. Instantly she was next to him, eyes questioning.

"Boss!" the rest of Troupe said in exclamation, seeming to have a delayed response at the arrival of the young blonde. Kurapika looked up and smiled at all of them, seeming to have a calming effect.

"I'm back." he replied needlessly, as Kortopi came up next to him and gave him a hug around his waist.

"Boss, what… what happened to the enemy? Who was he?" Machi asked, following him as he made his way to the spot he had been previously sitting at.

"His name is Chrollo Lucilfer, and I left him at the abandoned building." he answered simply, causing Machi to stop in her tracks and the rest of the troupe to either stand up or stare at him in shock; some both.

"Boss!"

"Isn't that a bit reckless?"

"What if he followed you here?"

"You let him live?"

Kurapika raised his hand, silence following as soon as he did so. He looked at the troupe members, seeming to contemplate how to tell them his news.

"As you all are aware, we took down the Nostrade and Mammon families back when they had instigated the Kurta massacre." he reminded everyone, trying to gauge their reactions carefully to the information he was explaining. "We had done research on both families in order to know who to specifically kill: we wanted no survivors. So how did a person bearing the last name Lucilfer and claiming to be the son of Abaddon Mammon come after us even though we had eliminated all known targets?" He let his eyes sweep the room, letting the question hang in the air before he continued. "Well, that's exactly the thing: he wasn't supposed to be known. Chrollo Lucilfer isn't actually apart of the Mammon family, but rather a pawn."

"A pawn?" Bonolenov echoed, giving Kurapika an odd look. "That doesn't make any sense." he continued, but now more mumbling to himself than anyone around him.

"Wait, so you're saying that this kid wasn't really the old man's kid? Then who was he?" Phinks asked, sitting down to think.

"He was taken from Meteor City for a project Abaddon Mammon had started known as Plan 28DVH. Basically it was to claim children from our home and to use them as bridges to well known underground families." Kurapika said, his lips forming into a frown at the thought.

"So you're saying that he was one of us?" Machi spoke up once again, trying to recall if she had seen the man in black before, or if she had known anyone named Chrollo. Nothing was coming up yet.

"Yes, essentially he could be counted as one of us." the blonde said, crossing his arms as he said so. "But the reason I say this is because that reason is why he wasn't listed as a family member when we went researching the Mammon family. We didn't go looking for him to make sure he was dead be cause we didn't know he existed, making him the sole survivor of the massacre and thus giving him reason of revenge."

Everyone went quiet at his revelation, and Machi shifted uncomfortably. The news didn't seem very surprising to her, but then again, it was hard to surprise her. Her "hunches" usually took the surprise out of everything. She looked over at the spot where Uvogin was resting, the large man having passed out upon his arrival to the base. Shalnark, Nobunaga, and Pakunoda were around him, still busy with patching him up. She returned her attention to Kurapika when he started speaking again.

"He isn't a threat as of right now. It will take him some time to recover from the news that his revenge mission has all been for naught." he said, smirking at the memory of his enemy's confusion. "Whether he is to become a threat again or not remains unknown."

Machi eyes widened and she felt her stomach twist, the center of her being seeming to shift to the right just a bit. Her mind became fuzzy as she felt herself dissociate before she felt herself lower back into her body, a single thought crossing her mind: he wants to recruit Chrollo into the Phantom Troupe. She clenched her hands slightly at the hunch. Why would he want to recruit him? What purpose would it serve? To get rid of the threat? Wait, wouldn't that just bring the threat to them? Maybe he was doing it to better keep an eye on the enemy? Machi shook her head. There was no use in questioning herself, she needed the answer from Kurapika himself.

"Boss." Machi said, getting everyone's attention as she addressed their leader. "You're thinking of recruiting him, aren't you?"

Now all eyes were on Kurapika, the young Kurta having smile on his face that he couldn't hold back.

"Perhaps. He's interesting, and certainly has the potential to be one of the strongest people in the troupe." the blonde mused, amusement clear in his voice. "In addition, you might say I was oddly attracted to him."

"What?" Shalnark voiced all of their thoughts at their leader's last comment. "B- Kurapika, aren't you a little too young to be thinking about something like that?"

The Phantom Troupe leader blinked at him before raising an eyebrow up at him bemused.

"Shal, I'm about to turn eighteen. And besides, I said I'm attracted to him, not in love with him. After what he did to Uvogin, I'm simply curious as to what else he has in store, and therefor drawn by the mystery that surrounds him."

Machi could feel the whole room give a sigh of relief, but couldn't tell whether or not that the sigh was spurred from the fact that Kurapika had denied being romantically inclined to the enemy (or anyone in general,) or that he was just simply being a nosy child. For herself she had done it for both reasons, though she would've preferred that their young leader would take into consideration what might happen to the spider if he went through with his actions.

After that, Kurapika dismissed them to do as they wished, resulting in everyone either going to their respective rooms that they found or sleeping where they sat. Nobunaga and Shalnark opted with staying next to Uvogin just in case he woke up while the rest of them were asleep, though Machi doubted he would. With a sigh she took out her phone, noticing how late it had already gotten. Midnight on one of their first days here and they had already run into trouble. She wouldn't put it past anyone if they couldn't fall asleep with this knowledge. To know that their leader was willingly embracing the danger they had encountered was unsettling, but she knew better than to doubt him. Too many times had they ended up with allies because he had gone out of the way to make sure they came to him, but this challenge was certainly tougher than all of those previously. She closed her eyes and prayed to whatever deity was listening that everything would be alright. Nothing could get worse than this, right?


	7. Chapter 7

_So, due to my indecisive mind and how eager I am to just get this all out, I did a triple update! Hopefully this is a satisfying way to end this particular update~_

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Chrollo couldn't stop running. He wasn't headed anywhere in particular, but he just wanted to escape that abandoned building, escape what he prayed was not the truth, just escape _everything_. But now his paranoia was eating away at him: what if the Phantom Troupe leader had been right?

Eventually he slowed down to a walk when he got closer to the city, trying to fix his appearance distractedly. After wrapping the bandages around his head, he walked into the city, looking around and trying to see what would distract him from the emptiness he felt now. He wondered if this is why some people became drunkards. Not his reason exactly, no, but the emptiness? Yeah, probably.

He couldn't recall the last time he had felt so lost. Even in Meteor City he had felt at home, felt like there was purpose in his life. He paused in his walking, gazing at the dark sky above him, the city's lights shining on passing clouds.

Two thoughts came to his mind. One, was that he had no purpose. As far as he knew, he had lost it when he left Meteor City, lost it when his faux, or, not faux family was killed, and lost it after talking to the Phantom Troupe leader. Two, was that he _was_ from Meteor City, but for some reason, he had forgotten, despite having it ingrained into his life. Maybe it was a sign for him to return? Or that maybe he should start there to try and gather evidence behind the blonde's claims on the Mammon family?

No, there was no need to! The Phantom Troupe not only dealt in theft and murder but also in deceit, so why should he trust them or their leader's words? He shouldn't have been as thrown off as he was about this. That information could have been fabricated for all he knew and he fell for it like a sucker, allowing his enemy to play him like a puppet. He cursed at himself, unable to accept that after all this time of searching for the troupe and he blew his only chance and ran away.

Muttering confusedly, he returned to his hotel room, throwing himself onto the bed as soon as he arrived. There was just no way that everything he had done was for people who weren't his family, _no way_ that those people weren't his family to begin with! Had his father not told him of his mother's unfortunate passing and how he had desperately looked for him? _Desperately looked for a suitable heir,_ his mind supplied, making him squeeze his eyes closed and had him curling up into a ball on the bed sheets. No! He had to be the son of Abaddon Mammon, half brother of Beleth Mammon and Leraje Mammon! There was no other way! Sure he may have been from Meteor City, but lots of people got lost there, right?

He felt the threat of tears in his eyes and he tried to force them back, tried to ignore them like the plan that the enemy blonde had spoken of. Plan 28DVH. He paused, trying to think of the mafia and assassin families he had learned about when he was with his father. There were the Nostrade's of course, known for their daughter's fortune telling amongst other things. Then there were the Zoldyck's, who was a family of all assassins trained from infantry and also extremely elusive to any type of media...

Chrollo kept going down the list he knew till he reached the last one, making a tick on a piece of paper he had. He swallowed. Twenty-eight. He had counted twenty-eight different families who were involved in the underground. Surely that was coincidence, right? That he had only learned of twenty-eight of them… maybe the plan the Phantom Troupe leader had talked of was true? No, it could still be a lie! The troupe leader would have to know of any prestigious underground families since there was always the potential to have business with the black market. That would mean that the lie could've been easily fabricated on the spot! But if that was so, then why would he make something up like "devoted heirs"?

Chrollo sighed, glad that he at least hadn't started crying yet from all of the confusion. _"Crying is what people do when they are losing."_ he recalled his father saying many times over to his brothers. Chrollo opened his eyes to stare at the ceiling, tracing the pattern of the tiles with invisible lines. His father was a wise man who cared deeply for his family. He would never try to do something to hurt him or his brothers. _Perhaps your brothers were part of the project as well._ He shook his head to rid himself of his doubt, but the thought still stayed with him. He looked at the clock and realized that it was already midnight. To have already encountered his enemy and to be perplexed beyond reason was enough to keep him awake, but he felt more exhausted than not.

Despite knowing that these problems would begin to haunt him the moment he would awake the next morning, Chrollo drifted off to sleep unexpectedly quick, his last thought being on the Phantom Troupe leader, and how he had never learned his name.


	8. Chapter 8

_Whenever I update these chapters, it's always sometime near midnight or the middle of the day. I really should become more consistent with that, shouldn't I?_

* * *

Light started filtering into the abandoned church that the Troupe had taken residence in, Shalnark finally starting to get sleepy after watching over Uvogin. He was faintly aware that Nobunaga was snoring next to him, his mind blurring with thoughts. Thoughts of when he was younger and still in the Lukso province. He remembered every day there was the equivalent of eating a bitter fruit. He had to deal with everything there even if he didn't want to. The rules, the customs. Nothing made sense to him. He just wanted to explore the world with his own two feet, see treasures that were only told about in children's bed times stories, and witness creatures in their single monstrosity and fight them like the heroes of legend were always depicted doing. He wanted to leave the village so badly it almost hurt sometimes, and then the opportunity arose quicker than he had imagined it to.

He clearly remembered the day. It was a bright, hot day, and he had wandered across an expanse of small, short flowers that blended from colors of white and gold to lilac and pink. _A meadow,_ Shalnark had recalled at the time while looking around at the varying flowers, _this is what they would call a meadow_. He had encountered smaller ones many times before, but they were more of patches of weeds and mushrooms that formed between trees than an actual meadow.

He started walking gingerly around the flowers in front of him, trying to observe the peacefulness of the the meadow that he had found. Shalnark found his mind wandering to look up from the plants in front of him to see that the light blue sky was touching the ground; it was clear of guards. Immediately he became suspicious. Was this a set up? He glanced back and forth between the trees on either side of the narrow meadow, trying to decipher if shadows were the shadows of leaves swaying in the wind or if they were guards hidden from view.

Shalnark crept a few feet into the flowers trying to get a better angle into the groves of trees when he heard a voice behind him call his name.

"Shalnark? What are you doing?"

He turned quickly to find a woman with her four or five year old son clinging to her leg. He looked at her a little longer before realizing she was from the Kurtan village. He straightened up and put on a smile to disguise what he had been doing earlier.

"Hello ma'am! I was just observing the area! Lovely isn't it? And the trees over there look really shady, nice for a day like this-"

"Shalnark, were you trying to leave the village?"

He stopped his talking to look back over to the woman, noticing that she didn't seem so repulsed by the idea but was still looking guarded nonetheless. His smile fell slightly.

"Maybe, but that's none of your concern." he supplied, watching her face become one of someone unamused.

"Oh is that so? So it wouldn't bother you if I asked you to look after my son for a while then while I go get some stuff from my house?"

"I don't think-"

"Thank you Shalnark, I knew I could count on you. I'll be right back okay, so don't move too far from this spot!" she said, giving him a smile of her own, before kneeling down and explaining to her son in simpler words that he'd be staying with Shalnark for a while. He caught chunks of what they were saying.

"You'll wait for me with Shalnark here. He's a very nice boy so don't be shy."

"Okay Mama."

"Don't wander too far from him alright?"

"Yes Mama."

She smiled at her child then stood back up and waved a temporary goodbye to Shalnark, who was already staring dumbfoundedly at the small Kurtan boy who came over to him and was clutching onto his pant leg with two stubby hands. His cheeks were puffed out in concentration of staying to his task of being near Shalnark, and then it dawned on him why the woman left her son behind when it only seemed reckless to him: he couldn't run from the village with a child on his leg.

Cursing at being found out, he gingerly guided the two of them to a small clearing where no flowers were and sat down, letting the kid climb into his lap and sit there with a look of odd content.

"So, what's your name?" Shalnark asked, wondering if he'd even get an answer.

The boy stared at him for a while before giving him shy smile that he hid mostly with two tiny hands.

"Kurapika." came the muffled response, and without thinking Shalnark smiled at him, pinching the other's nose lightly.

"So that's the prince's name! And I'm your temporary retainer, Shalnark!"

"Retainer…?" the smaller blonde questioned, looking at him with curious eyes. There was a small pause before Shalnark realized that Kurapika was asking him what the word meant.

"A retainer is someone who works for a family, usually royal or noble, and serves a single person from that house." he provided cheerfully, watching the other as they absorbed the information.

Kurapika's mouth formed into the shape of an "o" before he furrowed eyebrows, as if trying to remember the word. After a few seconds he nodded, muttering the word under his breath before his eyes lit up.

"Hey, do you know what a butterfly is?"

Shalnark chuckled.

"No, I don't believe I do."

And so the two of them went back and forth like that, exchanging words they knew, Shalnark knowing all the words the younger blonde mentioned, but it passed the time peacefully until Kurapika's mom arrived again.

"I see you two are having fun." she commented from behind them, startling Shalnark a little, but Kurapika clambered down from his lap and half hobbled and half ran over to his mom, wrapping his arms around her legs when he reached her.

"Mama, Mama! I learned some new words!" he said excitedly, though it was obvious how tired he was by now. His mother smiled down at Kurapika, seeming to notice as well.

"Is that so? You can tell me about them later." she said, patting his head. Shalnark frowned when she said the last sentence.

"Later?"

She glanced at Shalnark, her smile now a little turned down at the corners, her eyes distant.

"Maybe."

She walked over to where he was at, and Shalnark scrambled up to stand in front of her, weary now. She didn't intend to stop him, did she?

Instead she handed over a giant basket, or more so, put it between them both and held it against her hip as she dug stuff out.

Shalnark watched in wonder as a backpack, a couple bottles of water, a few sandwiches, and bunch of other food items fell out of the basket. At the end, she finally pulled out a blanket and unwrapped it, revealing a small red phone, a bat mascot at the top being the main design of the phone.

"Wha-"

"This is a phone. I've had it for… oh I don't know, let's just say a long time. It's pretty old, so I don't know if it's out of date or not, but I would like for you to have it. I was originally going to wait to give this to Kurapika when he was older but," she glanced down, looking at her son. "I'm afraid there aren't many opportunities to leave here."

Shalnark gave her bewildered look, looking at the phone to her then back at the phone. How did she even have a phone? _No one_ had phones here, or at least, not anyone he could recall.

"Wait, so are you saying you support me going off on my own and away from the province?"

"Yes, but in return for my support and supplies, I would like for you to take my son with you."

Again Shalnark gave her a bewildered look, but this time he felt a sense of dread creeping into him.

"Ma'am, I can't do that."

"Please Shalnark. Kurapika deserves a better life outside of here. The village is strict and hides so much from us, and if he's anything like me he'll have to deal with their forces head on at a young age. I'm begging you, please give him a future to strive for!"

At this point, the last thing on Shalnark's mind was escaping with her kid. He just wanted to see if there was even a way to get _out_ and now he was being tasked with not only successfully leaving but with the hopes and dreams of a woman he had never met. Despite his conflicting feelings on this mission, he felt his hands grasp around the phone she was still holding and nod.

"Alright, I'll do it."

She smiled at him, patting his hand that was over the phone.

"Thank you."

Kurapika had come to stand by them, staring at them wondering what had happened between them.

"Mama, what's going on?"

"Nothing dear." his mother released Shalnark's hands and picked up her child, getting him to rest on her shoulder. "You must be so sleepy though! You've been up since the sun rose today!"

"I am Mama." came a groggy reply, the young blonde quickly succumbing to being drowsy as he rested against his mom.

"Well don't hold back for my sake then! Go ahead and sleep dear, and when you wake up again you can play with Shalnark again!"

"O… kay…"

And with that, Kurapika was fast asleep in his mother's arms, while Shalnark looked on amazed.

"How the hell-"

"Don't worry too much about it. It's something that only I can really do. Anyway," she said, shifting Kurapika as she started to wrap the young boy in the blanket she had brought. "There is a way out of here, through this meadow and off to the left. I can give you about ten or twenty minutes before the village starts to get suspicious. I'll raise an alarm of you going off and kidnapping my son. This will explain both of your disappearances, and it will also give me a reason to leave the scene once people get here."

She was done wrapping Kurapika and handed him over to Shalnark, who awkwardly held the child close to him, watching her as she continued to explain her plan.

"I want you to find a cave near the bottom of a tree, and once you do I want you to go in and then call the first number on speed dial." she said, whilst showing him how to access the speed dial screen. "That'll call my other phone and I'll pick up once I'm away from everyone. You don't have to keep calling, because I'll see that you've called me and I'll return it okay?"

Shalnark nodded numbly. Why did she already have this all planned out? He dismissed the question. Not important right now. He needed to focus on remembering her instructions. He watched her as she kept explaining instructions, stuffing the backpack she brought with the food and other stuff that had fallen out of the basket.

"You have all that Shalnark?"

"Yeah."

His voice was hoarse. He swallowed, trying to calm the nerves that had started to make his hands shake. He was glad that his hands were hidden by the blanket that was wrapped around Kurapika, hoping that the blonde's mother wouldn't notice how anxious he was.

She looked up and paused.

"You're pale dear, are you alright?"

Shalnark opened his mouth then closed it.

"No, but I'll be fine."

She stared at him for a while before nodding, handing over the backpack, a sharp edge of a wooden frame sticking out of the top. Shalnark refrained from asking what it was, sure he would figure out when he got off of the province.

"Now off you go!" she said lightly pushing the boy in the direction he was to run. "I'll go do my part and you'll do yours." she continue, turning and walking back to the front of the meadow as she did.

"Wait!" Shalnark called out, glancing down at Kurapika to see if he hadn't woken him. He looked back up to see the woman patiently waiting, and he tried not to feel nervous. "I don't know you're name. Can you at least tell me that?"

She smiled at him, a gust of wind bringing a refreshing cool air around them as she answered his question.

"Anahita."


	9. Chapter 9

_If have to admit, writing this backstory was one of my favorite things to write about in this fic because I had so much creative power with this because it's basically all a mystery! Anyway, I hope you enjoy!_

* * *

Shalnark ran as fast as he could, following the instructions that Anahita had given him only moments beforehand.

"Alright and now to turn left…" he muttered to himself distractedly, running around a giant rock in his way to keep the path as steady as possible so as to not awake Kurapika. Checking on the sleeping child in his arms yet again for probably the hundredth time since he had started running, he realized that this was definitely more than he had bargained for, but really, what was he to do? Let Anahita go and tell the village of his escape and increase his chances of getting caught or let her have her way and take her son with him? Granted, he felt nothing but fondness for the child, but certainly she could've gone about it a different way. _No Shalnark, you know she took the right actions. Had she not threatened to reveal your escape there was no way you'd take Kurapika,_ his mind supplied, causing him to curse himself.

That was when he heard faint screaming coming from where he was sure the village was. It sounded akin to a war cry, and Shalnark found himself really not wanting to fight anyone as long as he was holding onto Anahita's son. Just the thought of seeing the mother angry made him pick up speed in his running. He turned a few more times skirting along the edge of the forest before jumping into it at the sight of a large oak tree with an odd lightning shaped branch with orange leaves instead of green ones.

After turning, he immediately found the cave Anahita had mentioned in her instructions. As soon as he got into it and got near the back he could hear the voice become louder. He wondered if calling would be a good idea, but then opted out of doing so. Having no previous knowledge of the phone, he was unsure as to whether or not it'd make noise. He'd rather be safe than sorry, especially when he was so far already.

The voices didn't become too much louder, and eventually faded into the distance, enough to where Shalnark felt that he could finally breathe properly again. He took out his phone and called Anahita, hoping that she would pick up instead of having to wait for her. It only took two rings before she picked up, voice slightly panicked.

"Shalnark? Oh thank goodness you're okay! I was wondering if they had caught you!"

"No it's all good for now. I think they passed me a while ago, I just didn't want to risk them finding me if the phone made a noise when you called back."

"Oh understandable, I figured you might do that but my husband had started to get worried over it well, unfortunately it rubs off a little _too_ much-"

"Anahita?" Shalnark called to her, getting her stop speaking. "You said you'd give me the rest of the directions?"

"Oh right, of course!"

He heard some shuffling on the other side of the line, before there was a loud thump and then the sound of someone else's voice entirely.

"Hello? You're Shalnark yes?"

The voice was deeper than Anahita's, but not by much. He was about to answer the question when he heard Anahita chastising him saying that "Of course that's Shalnark! Do you not trust your own wife?" The man on the line chuckled and returned his attention to the phone conversation he was having.

"So Shalnark, you're at the cave right now correct?"

"Yeah?"

"Alright. You're gonna have to trust one more person to make it out of here. They're an old friend of mine; runs a small rest stop over near a large set of boulders - like a maze of sorts. You know where that's at?"

Shalnark grumbled to himself on something about 'vague directions' while trying to remember any sets of boulder he had ever seen in the area.

"The one near the drop off cliff to the east?"

"That's the one."

"Yeah, I know where that is."

"Okay, then head there as quickly as you can. When you get there, call us again."

The line went dead, and Shalnark put his phone away, gathering up Kurapika and the backpack again before taking off once more, but at a slightly more leisurely pace. Even if the whole village was looking for him, no one would be looking for a kid walking around casually like he hadn't a care in the world. The blonde thought about the concept of his deception a little more. They also wouldn't be expecting a smiling one either. He then forced a smile onto his face, his cheeks hurting a little, but he did it nonetheless.

A few minutes went by before he found the boulders Anahita's husband had mentioned. He paused, looking around to see if his pursuers were around. They weren't, so he proceeded forward, walking between the rocks and hiding when he could, his hearing acute to every noise in the giant rock garden. In the distance, he could see the cliff he had been to a few times, but only ever looking down from it. He knew the path through the boulder relatively well due to studying it for so long, but to find a house? That was impossible. He should know! He spent countless hours looking at the motionless grey objects and tracing the sandy paths between them for fun! He had never once spotted a house, or anything that wasn't a monotone color. Sure every _now and then_ he'd see a small creature scuttle across the paths, but nothing else!

Deciding he was far enough into the boulder patch, he pulled out his phone, speed dialing Anahita's phone again. It took more rings this time, answered again by Kurapika's mother.

"Sorry he's out right now. The village called an emergency meeting since they gave up on the search for you and my son. They're going to launch two more groups soon."

Shalnark felt liking sighing but refrained from doing so, walking a little more confidently now that he knew no one was looking for him.

"Okay, that's nice. Buys a little more time. Do you know where this guys house is? I can't seem to-"

Then he ran into a rock. Well, he thought he had. The phone fell out of his hand at the impact, landing on the soft sand, and Shalnark stumbling backwards, almost falling if he hadn't had Kurapika to help counteract his displacement in balance. When he had made sure he was stable again, he looked up at the obstacle he had ran into.

It was an older woman, hunched slightly over, with dark red hair and wearing a grey cloak. _A rock person,_ was the first unintelligent thought that came to Shalnark's head and he stifled his laughter as he went to pick up his phone.

"Shalnark! Shalnark, are you okay?" he heard Anahita's voice raise in panic from the speaker, bringing the phone to his face so he could respond.

"Yes, Anahita, I'm fine. I ran into..."

He looked at the old woman to see that she was looking at him like he had just offended her to the highest accord. Faster than he thought she could possibly move, the older woman had taken the phone from his hand and was now talking through it.

"Anahita? You mean Eidos's wife?" There was a slight pause in her talking, but it continued after only a second passed. "What's the meaning of this? Why are you sending me some skinny ass boy with a kit? ...the baby is yours?! What about the other one? No? Anahita, what the fu-"

Shalnark tuned out the rest, almost shocked by how crude the older woman's vocabulary was. He was positive he would never want to hear such colorful words for a very long time. For precaution, he also covered Kurapika's ears; he may not be awake but Shalnark was sure the poor boy was hearing it all the same.

All of a sudden the woman's demeanor changed completely, and her voice also changed, to a much lighter and happy tone.

"Eidos! It's been awhile! How are you?"

Shalnark felt as if someone had smacked him in the face. This lady was obviously playing favorites.

"Oh, of course, not that I mind! No, you know how much I enjoy giving your wife a hard time, it's too easy!" A pause before she laughed. "Yes, yes I know, I'm sorry. Bad habits die hard! ...Yup, it's been in top condition since we found it a while back! No problems have arised with test runs, but as you know it's hard to actually get it out...yes, correct. Alright, will do. Okay, goodbye."

The woman hung up the phone and tossed it to Shalnark, who had to catch it with the side of his face, letting the cloth over Kurapika's ear slip on accident.

"What was that?" he asked, letting the phone slip in front of him to fall onto Kurapika's sleeping form."

"Oh, that conversation just now? I'll explain on the way, come with me." she said, much more jovial than he thought she could look with a large scar sliced across her face.

It took a while to get to her house. During that time, Shalnark was told that she was the old friend of Kurapika's dad, Eidos. Her name was Berry, or well, her nickname was. Her name was something longer but Shalnark couldn't pronounce it at all, causing her to laugh and offer the alternative which was much easier on the tongue.

Apparently she was supposed to be unknown to the village, keeping the technology that many higher ups did have updated, and making sure they could get imports from other places. She had landed here on accident with her parents, but they had died almost instantly, leaving her alone. She was then taken into the village and given to Eidos's family to be taken care of. She loved Eidos like a brother, and when she had first met Anahita she didn't like her because of how she disrupted the peace, but couldn't say much about it due to her circumstance of landing in the province _from the sky_. (Shalnark briefly wondered if Berry could fly before dismissing the thought. _People can't fly._ )

Berry eventually settled for teasing "the shit out of her," and it was a habit that she never bothered to correct since after finishing her schooling she was sent to live alone so as to avoid any "outside influence."

"And that's why I'm a terrible person to Anahita and such a sucker to Eidos. Not much a story I admit, and an even worse person, amiright?" she said, laughing at the insult she had dealt to herself.

"Wait, so you know you're being mean?" Shalnark asked, walking into Berry's house as Kurapika mumbled in his sleep about butterflies.

"Of course! I'm horrible! Probably the real reason they sent me away to be honest, not that I care. I get my peace and quiet out here." she said, closing the door behind the two blondes and turning towards them to evaluate them more.

Shalnark avoided eye contact, looking around her house instead of actually looking at the red haired woman in front of him.

Upon arriving to Berry's house, he had realized why he had never seen her house. It was _in_ the boulder. A hollowed out part of the rock that would've been a cave. It expanded into the stone and was turned into a house by simply putting a door at it's entrance. She didn't get much natural light inside, but there was a few holes in the ceiling that Shalnark concluded were used for lighting, gathering of rainwater, and to let out the gases and smoke of her candles and fireplace. Fabrics of all sorts covered the walls, some in rich reds and others in royal blues, strings of thread fading into indigos and deep purples with hints of bronze and silver laced into them. It was warm, he noted when she crossed her arms. Warm, but not too warm. Probably the perks of living in a rock.

"You two seem alright. Though the bab… what's his name?"

Shalnark directed his attention back to Berry, who looked kind of grim in the dim candle light.

"Kurapika."

"Fits him. Kid looks like he'll grow up looking like a flower but will be the first to start a fight and win!" she laughed at herself again, turning and walking over to a basin full of water and slapping some onto her face. "I'm gonna give you some more stuff to take with ya' for your journey kid. More foods, more blankets, and a ticket out of this place."

She turned around looking like she had just reversed her age back to being twenty. She took a pouch out from underneath her cloak, showing that her hunch wasn't even real. She started unpacking it, ignoring the gaping look she was receiving from Shalnark.

"Shalnark, you can place Kurapika over there on them pillows in the corner." she said, sparing an arm from her task briefly to point over to the corner near the fireplace, wear a bunch of pillows were haphazardly stacked on top of each other.

The blonde made his way over to the bunch, arranging the pillows into a makeshift bed with one arm until he was satisfied, placing the younger boy onto it.

He turned back around to see that Berry had changed clothes quickly while he had been occupied, now wearing brown leathered gear and boots over her grey shirt and white pants, goggles strapped to her head. She was busy repacking her pouch with a bunch of miscellaneous items, Shalnark only getting a brief glimpse of her throwing something that looked like dried meat into it.

When she noticed he was done with his task she ushered him over with a hand, speaking to him with a concerned voice.

"Have you thought about what you're going to tell him?"

"Tell who?"

"Kurapika. Why he's no longer with his mother and why he's in a new strange place."

Shalnark had no answer, but smiled, something that he had found was quite a hard habit to start if he just wanted to deceive people even a little.

"It's okay, I have it covered."

There was a pause from Berry before she raised an eyebrow at him.

"You need to work on that smile boy. Ain't nobody gonna be fooled if you look like you're in pain while saying it."

He was about to say something when she just put her hand in front of him to stop him.

"You don't need to respond now, just think about it alright? The poor thing will be devastated and very confused if we told him the truth. In due time, it'd be easier to tell him, yes, but we gotta think of something a four year old would accept without thinking his mother abandoned him."

Shalnark nodded, watching as she returned to work and finished packing her bag.

"Alright, this should do it." she said, hoisting the pouch onto her back and turning to him with a smile. "Now let me show ya how we'll get there."

Shalnark had to admit, every cave he had entered into the past day, even his whole life, had never been as interesting as this one. The cave was in the drop off cliff he always used to sit on, and of course it was in a way that he couldn't see it. _Typical rock people,_ he thought to himself.

The cave walls were again covered with blankets and silks of all sorts but less this time, some space on the wall instead for hanging equipment above a workbench and shelves that held tools and metal parts of all shapes and sizes. In the center of the cave was some… contraption that Shalnark could tell was made out metal. It had a body, and some odd looking wings that sprouted out of it.

"Berry, what… is that thing?" Shalnark asked, flinching a bit when his voiced echoed a little too loudly back at him. He checked on Kurapika who was back in his arms, except this time with two more blankets wrapped around him. He didn't awake.

"It's a… well it _used_ to be a blimp. But Eidos and I repurposed it to be… not a blimp…"

"...did you at least name it?"

"Hold on, I'm trying to remember what it could be called… I think it was maybe called a grain? No… plant… no, plane! That was it! Yeah, this is called a plane, though last I heard they're not very common anymore." she said, patting the metal contraption with pride. "And Eidos and I never named it, but if you want to you can."

Shalnark shook his head. He just wanted to get out of here.

"Alright, now I'm gonna let ya get in the back seat first." she said and as she relieved Shalnark of his child holding duties. "There's a little ladder on the starboard side that you could use, and when you get in, I'll hand over Kurapika 'kay?"

"Yeah." he said, smiling at her.

All she did was chuckle and say "Almost."

Shalnark walked around the plane awkwardly until he found the ladder, seeing a few shelves sticking out of the body to form steps.

"So starboard probably means the right of the contraption?" he questioned to himself, climbing back one seat and settling in, trying to figure out how _exactly_ this thing could… well do anything.

"Just about." was Berry's voice closer than he anticipated, making him jump in his seat. She handed over Kurapika with one more blanket wrapped around him and a pair of goggles on top of his bundled body.

"Those are for you. Don't want your eyes drying up."

"Right."

She threw a blanket at him, the cloth landing on his face. He pulled it off and wrapped himself in it, wondering how the hell it was gonna be so cold if it was summer here.

Berry jumped into the plane's front seat, zipping up a jacket she had put on earlier and putting her pouch between her feet and her seat. She then slung a sash across her chest and body, having it click near the bottom of the seat. Shalnark looked around for something similar and found it, copying her movements until he heard a click too.

"Alright Shalnark, don't worry about this waking Kurapika, it may be loud but if Anahita knocked him out, he'll be asleep for a while." she said, nodding when Shalnark gave her a look that confirmed that Anahita had.

"Okay, now let's get this party started!"

The engine of the plane started, and even though he didn't have to, he still checked to see if Kurapika had awoken. To his relief, he hadn't. Then the plane started moving, out of the cave and out past the boulder garden and into a field. It started picking up speed, and Shalnark remembered to put on his goggles. He hastily put it on, and was just in time to grab Kurapika again to see that they had risen off the ground and into the air, gaining altitude as they continued.

After a few minutes, he soon realized that he was grateful for the blanket wrapped around him, and despite wanting to stay awake to think about what to tell Kurapika, he quickly fell asleep.


	10. Chapter 10

_HO YEAH BABY! TRIPLE UPDATE AGAIN! I was gonna feel really guilty if I left you guys off without a completion to this flashback, so I decided to post all three chapters covering it! I want to add, that this whole section of the fic (this backstory in particular) is well over six thousand words! Alright, enough of my rambling, time to get on with the story!_

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"Yo, Shalnark. Shally boy! Gotta wake up! Oh damn, the kid must not be a morning person… oh, there you are sunshine!"

Shalnark blinked his eyes open, seeing that he was still inside the plane with Kurapika snuggled next to him. He looked at Berry, who was smiling at him in the dark.

"Come on now, get out! We gotta go over to that nice trash heap over there!" she said, pointing over to something that Shalnark could tell wasn't supposed to be a city but was.

"Wha…?"

"Oh boy, you sure are sluggish right now. It's understandable though. Pass Kurapika over will ya?"

Shalnark mindlessly obeyed, the younger blonde's body heavy but not enough for him to be unbearably so. He passed him over to Berry who had him propped against her shoulder as she hummed to herself and slung her pouch over her other shoulder.

"Got a good friend out here," she started saying, though Shalnark didn't realize she was talking to him till she continued. "He'll be taking care of you guys till… well I don't know. Just don't get on his bad side ey? He hasn't been the same since his wife's death."

Shalnark was awake by the time she had said the last sentence, but he was still too tired to even ask what had happened. She turned around and offered her hand, which he felt inclined to deny, but didn't. So they walked hand in hand towards a city he would later learn would be called Meteor City, and towards their new home.

When they arrived, they traveled around the outskirts of town before they arrived at the house Berry was talking about. It looked more like an abandoned shrine if anything but when they got to the front door, it was opened in a hurry by a tired looking man with long black hair tied back tightly with stubble on his face.

"Nob-! Oh, Berathalum. What brings you here?" he asked, trying not to show the disappointment in his voice as he tried to make himself look more presentable.

"I've got some kids I need you to look after. If they bother ya you can kick 'em out but they're pretty well behaved and will do what you ask. Except for the four year old. I don't know about him much." Berry said, looking around him and into the house distractedly. "Where is-"

"He's gone." the man answered quickly, cutting her off, and sighing when she gave him a sympathetic look. "For a while now. I think I made him mad. Or upset. Or something else entirely. I… how about you come in? You too." he added, motioning to Shalnark with an expression that looked somehow significantly more tired than before.

He nodded, following Berry in, still holding her hand, and sat down when she did, taking in the unexpectedly large space. It was clean, Shalnark noted. And… empty. The man came over and sat across from them, sitting down cautiously.

"I'm sorry you have to see my house like this. I haven't had much motivation to keep it comfortable…"

"It's alright, I need to leave soon anyway. How about we do introductions?" Berry suggested, looking at Shalnark instead of the other man. Shalnark nodded slightly, not really feeling like arguing at that point.

"I'm Shalnark. And the sleeping one is Kurapika." he said, doing his best to smile.

Despite how tired the man looked, he gave them a small, genuine smile, one that Shalnark only ever saw being used by older tribe members when little kids were talking to them excitedly.

"And I'm Nobuhide. It's nice to meet you two. I'm not much right now, but I'll do what I can." he bowed a bit, making Shalnark realize he hadn't done the same, and that maybe that was a custom here. He was going to until Berry stood up, slinging her pouch off her shoulder carefully and then setting it down between her and Nobuhide.

"The whole pouch is full of food stuff and some nice blankets and what not. Even a few things I invented for ya. Oh except for these," she said, bending down and taking a handful of jerky and a water canteen. "These are mine for the ride home."

Nobuhide nodded, standing up too to bow at her.

"Thank you very much."

"No, thank you. I feel bad on barging in like this, especially with… you know. But I'll do my best to try and visit and what not, no guarantee though!" she said, laughing lightly as she patted the taller man's shoulder. "Best of luck to ya!"

He smiled again, grateful for her positive attitude despite the circumstances.

"Of course."

He took Kurapika from her hands with a practiced ease, turning and walking towards the back of the room where there was a long hallway at both corners. He turned down the left hall, leaving Shalnark and Berry alone.

"Shal, please be nice to Nobuhide. His son just left him, though he should be around your age, or even a little older. Last I saw him he looked around your age though… he's around six years older probably. Anyway, do your best here okay? This is as far as the plan goes, but I bet Anahita and Eidos are thinking of something right now."

Shalnark nodded, glancing over to where Nobuhide had disappeared with Kurapika. He stayed silent for a bit before turning back to Berry.

"When will he wake up?"

Berry looked at him and sighed, muttering something under her breath as she ran a hand through her red hair that had began to get overly curly.

"Probably tomorrow." she said unsurely, looking back up when Nobuhide re-entered the room. "You hear that Nobuhide?"

"Yes, of course. Anahita's work I'm assuming?"

"Yeah. She was always good at that, putting kids asleep. Well, _anyone_ to sleep, but kids are easier to do it to I think."

He grunted in response, walking over to Shalnark and kneeling down in front of him so that they were the same height.

"Shalnark, if I ever start doing things you don't like, don't be afraid to tell me. I don't want to hurt you or Kurapika, alright?"

The Kurta looked at him and then smiled, feeling that half of him meant it.

"Yes!"

Berry gave him a thumbs up before saying some parting words with Nobuhide, who looked a bit nervous despite already having experience in raising a child.

"You seem better," Berry started, before she shook her head and clapped Nobuhide's shoulder. "Well, whatever. I owe ya one now, so get in contact with me if you ever need anything."

"Of course. Take care on your way back."

"Gotcha."

And then Berry left, leaving Shalnark in the room alone with Nobuhide. They awkwardly avoided looking at each other before Shalnark's stomach growled, causing Nobuhide to laugh.

"You're hungry? Well I haven't had any food recently that would be child safe so let's eat whatever is in that bag of yours and in Berathalum's pouch, eh?"

"Okay!"

Two days later when Kurapika woke up, he was introduced to Nobuhide as their caretaker and to Shalnark as his cousin, and that his parent's had thought that taking a trip to the outside world would be a great adventure to them, and that they'd keep in touch. Shalnark didn't think Kurapika could ever look as happy as he did when he claimed to be his blood relative. Shalnark would've felt guilty about the lie if he didn't already feel like they were family anyway.


	11. Chapter 11

_Alright! So I finally finished uploading all of the chapters and editing it all for the last time! Hopefully! Now all I gotta do is figure out how to pace these chapters! CAn't be too hard, right?_

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"Hey Shaaal! Shaaalnarrrk! Hey buddy wake up!" Nobunaga called quietly to the blonde who had fallen asleep next to Uvogin. Nobunaga glanced back at the larger man who seemed to be gaining consciousness. "Shalnark!" he hissed furiously, accidentally using too much force when he pushed Shalnark, causing the blonde to fall over and wake up in panic, grabbing onto Nobunaga's clothes to prevent himself from landing on the ground.

"Nobuhi- wait, Nobunaga? What the hell man, I was about to-"

"Shh! Uvogin's waking up!"

Shalnark's eyes widened, letting go of Nobunaga abruptly and going over to kneel next to Uvogin as the man grunted at the light above him.

"Hey, who made this place so bright? Man, hope I'm not in heaven…"

"Uvogin!" Shalnark said happily, wrapping his arms around the other man as best as he could, Nobunaga chuckling behind him.

"You've escaped death's clutches again my friend, but I'm sure you wouldn't go to heaven despite how much we love you. " Nobunaga commented himself, walking to the other side of the large man.

"Haha! That's for sure!" he laughed, patting Shalnark who had started crying; probably from stress and worry. Maybe even happiness too.

Nobunaga watched Uvogin comfort Shalnark for a bit before turning to survey everyone around them. For the most part, everyone was asleep where they had previously been sitting, but the rest had retired to rooms, and their leader had disappeared to who knew where.

"Hey Nobu, how's his condition?" he heard Machi ask, looking down to his right to see her pink hair shining even when she was standing in the shadows.

"Well he's alive and kicking if that makes a difference." Nobunaga said, dropping down from where he was at to stand next to Machi, who glanced down at her phone before putting it away.

They stayed in a comfortable silence, listening to Shalnark and Uvogin talk to each other happily. Nobunaga broke the silence.

"Do you really think Kurapika will recruit that Chrollo guy?" he asked, staring off into a broken window as the sun's rays fell in. "He may have beaten Uvogin, but for all we know he could've thrown a math test at him and forced him to take it."

He saw Machi throw a hand up to her face, probably to prevent herself from laughing. She then coughed into her fist, glaring at Nobunaga.

"That's not funny."

"That's what she said."

He felt her fist connect with the back of his head, making him tumble forward and into the wall in front of him.

"Fuck!" he grumbled, rubbing his forehead and the back of his cranium, looking back to see Machi giving him a triumphant smile. "Jerk." he said to her, though all she did was flick him off, which probably only proved his point, but he couldn't help like feel that she had won this round.

The room was oddly quiet before Shalnark clambered down from the rise that Uvogin was on and walked over to Nobunaga and Machi, looking at Nobunaga.

"Uvogin says you guys knew him." Shalnark said, concern on his face. "Is that true?"

Nobunaga was about to ask "who?" but then realized what he was talking about. He sighed, scratching the back of his neck.

"Yeah, we knew him. Was our friend for a while. He was… well he lived with Feitan and his mom for a while, so us four hung out for… some time…"

Shalnark nodded in understanding, though Machi narrowed her eyes at him.

"Wait, you know this Chrollo character?"

"A little? Honestly I don't remember much about those days. I didn't feel that mentioning it was worth something since I don't have much details him anyway." Nobunaga defended, hoping that Shalnark would help somehow.

"Well, it's not like he knows anything about us anyway. He left before Kurapika and I arrived in Meteor City, so any info he would have on any of us from at that time would be outdated anyway." Shalnark said, smiling at both of them. "So there isn't a need to worry about something like that!"

Nobunaga agreed, but was still weary when Machi only raised an eyebrow.

"Then why didn't Feitan step forward and tell us that he _lived_ with him?" she asked, looking at Nobunaga as if he had the answers. Which, last he checked, he didn't.

"That is because," Feitan's voice started, the short transmuter suddenly next to Machi, "Chrollo and I are brothers."


	12. Chapter 12

_Also, I'm currently in California so my timing could possibly be off since the timing is a four hour difference from where I came from. Anyway, back to double updates again! I think..._

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Chrollo found himself outside of Meteor City, not quite sure where to start. He had known some of the residents before he left, but most of them were kids around his age, and he had no guarantee that they were still here. He tried to think of other people, anyone who could give him any leads to the mysteries that were plaguing his past. Not that he believed the Phantom Troupe leader, no, he just wanted to prove him wrong. And for that he needed evidence, but he didn't even know where to start. Sure he was _at_ Meteor City, but that didn't mean he knew what to do there. Nor did he understand why he felt the urge to come here either.

He sighed. He really didn't like doing things without a plan. Just coming here was him not being able to control himself and following his gut instinct. Which wasn't necessarily bad, but this wasn't some life crushing battle, it was just him trying to gather evidence on himself. Right?

"Hey you!" he heard someone call, drawing his attention from the city to an older man in a oddly bright, white yukata." You've been loitering here for a while. You alright or are you looking for someone to hire?"

"I'm not looking for anyone to hire, but I'm not sure if I'm quite alright." Chrollo said truthfully, taking in the features of the man before him. Long, silver streaked black hair tied back tightly with bandages and a similarly colored Fu Manchu mustache. He seemed familiar.

"Not alright? That could mean many things… well, you don't look like a bad person. Follow me, I'll let you rest at my place for a while out of the heat." the man said, waving him to follow.

"Thank you." Chrollo said with a slight bow, almost causing the man to pause in his tracks before continuing onward, leading them both to his house.

When Chrollo arrived he thought that the building had been a shrine for some deities for Meteor City, but it turned out to be this man's house. It was surprisingly spacious too, throwing Chrollo off. He watched the other man kick off his sandals upon entering then walk into the middle of the room where a low table stood and sitting on a pillow located next to it.

"So, what might your name be?" the man asked, pouring himself some tea as Chrollo made his way over.

"I'm Chrollo."

"Hmm, interesting name. Got a family?"

"No, not really."

"Hmm, common nowadays. Did they leave you?"

"They're dead."

"Oh, my bad I shouldn't have pried-" the man started apologizing but Chrollo waved him off.

"Think nothing of it. Their deaths have brought me here actually, in some odd roundabout way." Chrollo more commented to himself, though he took note that the man was nodding with intrigue.

"Is that why you were staring at the city with unease? Are you perhaps looking for answers behind their death? That happens a lot here too…"

Chrollo was almost surprised how accurate the older man was but he pushed that out of his mind. This was time to get information.

"Yes, you are correct about that. I had a feeling I should come here to confirm a few things, since someone, uh… brought up an interesting counterpoint to what I believed, and now I wish to find evidence to support my side."

"Oh? Vague are you? Well, not that I mind. We all have our secrets, so I won't ask more. I'll try to help you in anyway that I can."

"Thank you. That's extremely kind of you." Chrollo said, bowing slightly again when the other man started to pour him tea.

"It's no problem. I usually end up helping people anyways. After my son ran away, I ended up taking care of two young blonde kids for a friend of mine." the other replied casually, glancing at the pot when it ran dry of tea. "They eventually ended up leaving too, but they got me in contact with my son again, and they even keep in touch every now and then. Such sweet kids they were. They made a family of their own now, and even though I'm not totally involved, it's still my family too you know?"

Chrollo nodded, compelled to ask more of the situation before he realized something.

"You seem familiar…" he started, staring at the older man, trying to figure it out. The face shape he _knew_ he had seen, but from where? He said he had a son… maybe that meant… "Your son, would his name happen to be… uh, Nobu…?" He stopped, his head throbbing when he tried to think about it further.

"You know my son?" the older man asked incredulously, seeming not to notice Chrollo's pain and almost dropping the new pot of tea he was holding.

"Well, I used to. He was someone I knew when I used to live here, the memory is just… very vague… I'm afraid my mind is not very good at retaining my early childhood. I barely remember anything from that time." Chrollo elaborated, elated that he could tell someone this, but at the same time, cursing himself for being so honest.

"What do you know? Didn't think anyone remembered him here anymore, though now that he's part of the Phantom Troupe he might actually have a name for himself."

Chrollo stiffened at the information. He knew that the troupe was based from Meteor City, but to run into the parent of someone in it…

"And what do you think of that?" Chrollo asked curiously, watching intently as the man fussed over the teapot in his hand with a towel.

"That he's in the troupe? I don't fully support it, but they're like the Robin Hoods for this city. Most money they make they bring back here to help with facilities, giving education and food to the children here." the older man shrugged, bringing the tea over and sitting down again, a smile on his face. "Plus it's ran by one of the blonde kids I took care of. The youngest one! Who would think right? But his head is in the right place. As long as you don't mess with his family he doesn't pay anyone much mind."

"What's his name?" Chrollo burst out, an odd excitement bubbling up in his chest at the mention of the Phantom Troupe leader.

"Huh? Oh the leader? His name is Kurapika, and his cousin's name is Shalnark. You sound like you met them briefly, given how desperate you were to learn his name!" the man laughed, only to continue laughing when Chrollo tried to glare at him to just have it result into something that looked like a pout. "How old are you? You seem around their age group, the troupe's I mean."

"Ah, well," Chrollo hesitated, not really wanting to take the long way in obtaining the information he was really looking for. He looked over at the man and saw that he was waiting patiently, though with slight concern on his face. Probably wondering if Chrollo even knew his own birthday. The younger man sighed. "I'm twenty-six." he eventually caved, seeing that there was really no way to get around the doting father of the troupe.

"You're right in the middle of the age range! How wonderful! Though I think Kurapika is the youngest, he was four when I got him, so right now he should be… seventeen? Almost eighteen? Yeah around that age." the man said, nodding to himself as Chrollo tried to hide his surprise. He knew the leader was young when he first saw him, but it was kind of hard to believe that someone nine years younger than him had bested him by just digging at his past insecurities. He was about to get the other's attention when, embarrassingly, he realized he had never gotten the other man's name.

"Sir, who are you exactly? You never introduced yourself." he said, trying to pretend it didn't affect him in the least.

"What? Nobunaga never mentioned his old man back then? Well guess not, I wasn't the nicest father back then. I'm Nobuhide Hazama, nice to meet you Chrollo." he said, bowing his head to Chrollo, who bowed back.

"And you too." he replied, looking at Nobuhide seriously now. "So, Nobuhide, how much do you know about the Mammon family?"


	13. Chapter 13

_I AM SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING YESTERDAY AAAHHHH I was so busy today and I didn't get back till midnight so PLEASE FORGIVE ME!_

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A day had gone by since Kurapika's first encounter with Chrollo, and he had already learned a lot about him, but not in the way he thought he would.

First, he had found out that before he and Shalnark had arrived in Meteor City, Chrollo had already made friends with some people in the troupe, namely Uvogin, Nobunaga, Pakunoda, and Feitan. (Apparently he had also been friends with Machi and Franklin, but they didn't remember him at all.)

Second, he was also told that he had lived with Feitan, who had refused to speak up about him before because he felt a certain loyalty to his family, even if they hadn't remembered him.

"So, he was your brother, who was adopted by your mother, who ended up becoming friends with Nobunaga and the others because of you?"

"Yes."

"Do you remember anything else about him?"

"He liked classical music a lot, even went as far as pretending that he was conducting an orchestra a few times… Any book he could get his hands on he would read, and he was also sort of the leader of our group before he left." Feitan recalled, crossing his legs where he sat. "Not that you're his replacement or anything. You made this group, he didn't."

Kurapika nodded, taking in the information.

"I didn't think I would be Feitan, so don't worry about that. Why did your mom adopt him though?"

"She took him in because she didn't want to see him out on the street anymore. She also half joked that it was because he could speak our native language."

"And could he?"

"Yes. Very fluently actually. It was all I could speak at the time when he was adopted too, so he ended up teaching me how to speak this language."

There was a lull in the interrogation, the room deathly silent despite Kurapika having said that this was to be an open discussion and not a one-on-one conversation. He sighed. For an enemy, Chrollo sure came off as someone peaceful and overly kind. It really made him wonder if he's the one that messed up his life by retaliating for the Kurta massacre.

"Do you think Chrollo would've left willingly?" Pakunoda asked, not looking at anywhere in particular with a hand on her chin in thought.

Feitan looked almost angry at the implication but kept silent, allowing Kurapika to answer what he thought.

"As far as I've heard, I think it's safe to assume that he wouldn't leave without a very good reason. If Feitan really feels this closely to Chrollo, then surely it must have been reciprocated in some way, if not from just being friends but also from being a family with Feitan and his mother."

Kurapika earned what he interpreted as an approving nod from Feitan and some odd glances from the others.

"Alright, say he didn't go willingly, then why is he so devoted to his captors?" Franklin asked, raising his hands when Feitan gave him a glare to show he meant no hostility by it. He had brought up a good point after all.

At first no one said anything, but soon everyone was discussing amongst themselves and it became hard for Kurapika to distinguish between the differing conversations that were going on. After a few minutes no one seemed to have a made a decisive answer until Shizuku spoke up:

"What if his memory was suppressed?"

Everyone looked at her, causing her to look around questioningly.

"Did I say something wrong?"

"No, you didn't." Phinks said, shaking his head, but he didn't sound so sure himself.

"You would have some experience with that though right? Unconsciously of course, but experience nonetheless." Franklin commented, and Shizuku nodded her head. Apparently this discussion happened to catch her during one of her lucid moments.

"It happens frequently yes, but this might not have been by his doing. It was probably instigated by the ones that captured him. It can usually be triggered by torture or immense pain, resulting in trauma and in the suppression of memories." she replied, more so to Franklin then everyone else, but they all still heard.

"And it's possible that someone has _nen_ abilities that could create the same effect." Kortopi added. "It sounds like Pakunoda's abilities a bit."

"But I don't mess with memories, I just look at them." Pakunoda defended, though she didn't seem too bothered by the implication. "In the abductor's case, they'd have to either take Chrollo's memories or move them somewhere else, but the _nen_ limitation on that could be huge and probably not well worth it in the end."

Kurapika felt like sighing but didn't; at least they were all openly trading ideas, even if it was stuck on the sole chance that Chrollo's memories were tampered with.

"We might just have to wait and ask him." Bonolenov sighed, getting a bunch of angry looks his way just from implying they'd all meet again. "What?" he whined, exasperated already by how much heat was being given by such an offhanded comment.

"We might not have to." Shalnark said grimly, gaining everyone's attention as he walked in from the other end of the hall, a microchip in his hand. "Does anyone remember Plan 28DVH?"


	14. Chapter 14

_Still feeling bad for not posting this on time, so I hope you guys know what this means for you right? THAT MEANS EXTRA CHAPTERS YEAH!_

* * *

Another day had passed with learning some more information about Chrollo, but not some that many of them were ready for. It was well into the next morning by the time everyone had scattered around the base and was sitting down to ponder over the information they had all learned. Feitan had disappeared somewhere after learning the truth, and even though Phinks had offered to go after him he never went, knowing it probably wouldn't help with his attitude. In addition to that, despite the mask Kurapika usually wore when holding meetings on information, when it came to him learning about the truth as well, Shizuku could see a crack in it; concern.

She didn't want their leader to feel responsible for their enemy's pain, but she couldn't say anything. It would draw unwanted attention to his feelings and she felt like she knew better than to do that.

Franklin sat next to her, studying her before he began talking, his voice only reaching her.

"Are you okay with this? I mean, you went through something similar yourself…"

She shook her head, in answer to his question and to also rid memories of blood and pain and screaming that were popping up away from her mind.

"Not really, but I had suspected as much. The _nen_ based idea wasn't as far fetched as I had originally thought, but the original cause was spurred by torture, which helped them reach their goal in the end anyway. The _nen_ was only to make sure the damage was finalized."

Franklin only nodded, drumming his fingers on his lap as they both returned to being silent.

"You didn't watch the video." Shizuku commented, causing Franklin to flinch.

"No, I didn't."

"Why?"

"...it reminded me of when we found you. Not as gruesome, but still just as unpleasant." he said, having stopped tapping his fingers on his legs and was now inspecting every crevice of them. "Usually I'm alright with that stuff, but watching someone suffer, and hearing them call out for help… they broke that boy down and made him nothing, and that's worse than anything I've ever done."

"You usually put them out of their misery quickly. You're too kind to ever torture someone." Shizuku said, patting his shoulder reassuringly, though she didn't really understand why she was.

He smiled at her thankfully before they lapsed back into silence; a comfortable one now. The day dragged on before Feitan reappeared, but no one said anything to him as he avoided everyone in the room and sat in a corner. Shizuku could see that he looked tired and sweaty, his hair slightly damp and his clothes sticking uncomfortably close to him. His face was also red, she noted, and his body language basically shut off everyone else.

"Franklin, I'll be right back." she said absently as she stood up.

Franklin had made a protesting noise but let it fall when she was already half way across the room going toward the corner where Feitan was. When she was within ten feet of reaching him he glared at her, but she paid it no mind and sat down next to him.

"Go away." Feitan growled, but she ignored him.

"He was your brother right? He was very dear to you, and now you're angry after seeing how he was transformed from the sibling you looked up to, to the enemy you must fight."

"I won't fight him!" he hissed, but she ignored him again.

"You watched all of the videos to see if he retained an ounce of what he used to be at the end. As the troupe's torturer, you can tell when someone breaks. You know how to poke and prod until you get what you want, but for once you didn't want to get to the end result. You wanted the torture to stop short, for them to give up, for Chrollo to stay strong-"

"Shut up."

"-but he couldn't, because he was still a child. And you remember too. You watched him get taken, and you feel responsible. You felt like you could've received the torture better, that you could've held that pain for him-"

"Shizuku, _shut up._ "

"-but what you need to know is that it's not your fault. What you saw was your brother, as you remember him, being beaten until he was unconscious over and over again. He held out for over forty-eight hours. And do you know what thoughts were keeping his mind sane?"

"Shizuku, please… stop."

"It was thoughts of you. And your mother. And everyone else he held dear. He didn't leave willingly. He didn't want to be there. He wanted to go back. He fought for you guys constantly for over two days, and he doesn't want you to feel responsible for his failure. Alright?"

Feitan was quiet for a moment, and Shizuku worried if she had gone too far. Then Feitan lifted his head, his eyes puffy and tears brimming at the edges.

"Are you sure?"

She could almost hear the next question behind his tongue: "How do you know?" But they both knew the answer to that. She had been through it before, only lasting eighteen hours herself, however she didn't need to recap that for him. Instead she smiled warmly, doing the only thing she could recall her mother doing for her.

"Yes, I'm sure. You don't need to hold it in any longer. It's okay to cry."

With some hesitance, he eventually did end up sobbing into his arms, leaning on his knees as Shizuku sat next to him the whole time as a physical reassurance for the short transmuter.

Kurapika came over to check up on Feitan after he had finished, hoping for a chance to comfort him as well; however, Feitan had told Kurapika to "leave him alone a little longer," so Shizuku took the initiative to speak to him before he could leave.

"Boss, I need to tell you something."

His face twitched, the twitch that happens when they call him boss instead of his name. She pretended like she didn't notice.

"Yes Shizuku?"

She stood up next to him, already gaining glances from other troupe members. Good. She needed everyone to remember this, just in case she didn't. Shizuku projected her voice so that everyone in the room could hear her.

"I would like to announce that I support your decision in recruiting Chrollo Lucilfer into the Phantom Troupe.


	15. Chapter 15

_So, extra chapter for not posting on the right day: yay! I have my friend to thank for reminding me that I hadn't done this, so yeah, bless them ;w;_

* * *

There was a lot of talking and commotion after that that allowed Feitan to slip away to another corner. As much as he appreciated Shizuku's help, he couldn't help her deal with the mob of troupe members that surrounded her with questions. She'd have to fend for herself with that. Kurapika had allowed them all to talk for a lot longer than normal, Feitan had noticed, but that was probably because he was smiling like an idiot for having someone on his side finally. Feitan couldn't blame him. Their leader had stood alone on that notion till just now without knowing about the silent agreement that had come from the original Meteor City group minus Machi and Franklin.

He fled the hall before they could start yet another meeting. Even if it was a well needed meeting, he still couldn't bring himself to go back to how he used to be. As far as he knew, he had yet to recover from the torture he had witnessed done onto Chrollo. It made him want to cry again just thinking about it, and he felt so angry for not trying harder to stop them from taking his brother away.

He and his mother had watched them take him. The mafia members barely even stopped the car to do so. Chrollo had run out to get a ball he and a few other kids had been using for soccer, and then all of a sudden, there was a black car there, and people jumping out. They had surrounded and taken ahold of Chrollo, dragging him to the car despite his furious struggling. They threw him in the back of the car quickly and then they were off, the black shine of the car zooming off and never to be seen again.

All the other kids were stunned and afraid, and no one went to get the ball after that, afraid that the same would happen to them too. Feitan and his mother had cried over him for days before they finally had to start pulling themselves together so that they could take care of each other. They never forgot but it was never really spoken of after the incident occurred. Feitan hadn't really told anyone about what happened to Chrollo either, but the rumors had spread through the city already so he didn't need to.

Feitan closed his eyes, trying to push away the memories. Those were his darker days, where he finally started becoming okay with death if he was ever faced with it. But if he was honest, even those days didn't last long.

Four months after Chrollo had disappeared had Kurapika and Shalnark appeared, both of them from another place entirely, but still inhabitants of Meteor City.

Feitan smiled. He remembered how quickly he had become friends with Shalnark, who taught him about the outside world that he had heard about but never gone to see. He had blended well with the others too, becoming quick friends with Uvogin and Nobunaga as well. Even Kurapika seemed to be very adaptable to everyone, becoming quick favorites of Pakunoda, Franklin and Machi, even though the seamstress didn't like to ever admit it. He remembered when he had even compared Kurapika and Chrollo because of how much they both strived to learn, but it was a reverse situation when Feitan found himself teaching the young blonde the basics in their language. He was quick to learn, and Shalnark already seemed to have a grasp on it due to his phone-

"Hey Feitan, why did you leave?"

The transmuter looked up to see Uvogin, who had managed to hobble over to him and away from the meeting that had turned into chaos once again.

"Not feeling it." he grunted, letting the other man come closer and sit next to him, sliding against the wall till he landed with a _thump_ next to him.

"Neither was I. Too noisy."

"You're the one to speak."

"True."

They sat there listening to the meeting calm down again and continue, Kurapika's voice carrying throughout the church but the words slurring together by the time it reached the two of them, making it sound like distorted music.

"Hey Fei?"

"Yeah?"

"He's one of us. Chrollo. We don't have to pretend like he doesn't exist anymore, we just have to bring him back to his senses is all."

"Okay, but why did he torture you then? Aren't you upset about that?"

"Nah, he seemed familiar when we first met so I let him have his way. Thought I could win even with a disadvantage, but then he poisoned me, the sneaky bastard."

"So you being paralyzed was true?"

"Hell yeah it was! Should've seen it coming really, he's always been like that right? Making his intentions seem one way and then doing another thing completely."

Feitan smiled. "Yeah."

"Anyway, when I get back over there, I'll announce my support too, though I never imagined we'd all have to." he laughed, rubbing at one of his shoulders. "But a spider can't move without all of its legs willing to move right?"

"Technically, we'd only need eight people to agree if we were a normal spider." Feitan said, earning an annoyed look from Uvogin, but the other man was still smiling.

"Are you trying to say we're not normal?"

"I'm saying _you're_ not normal."

"Alright, you're on! Once we're both healed, it's you and me buddy. We'll duke it out till the sun goes down!"

"I thought I made it clear that there'd be no fighting in the troupe?" Kurapika's voice rang in their small area, causing them to look away from each other to find an amused Kurapika.

"You can always be the referee if you wanted to be." Uvogin offered, causing Feitan to almost laugh.

"I think I'm good." their leader said good naturedly, walking over and sitting in front of them. "The meetings over though, just in case you two didn't notice."

"Oh, we noticed, we were just having _so_ much _fun_ , right Fei?"

"Oh yes, just the absolute best party, you should've been here for it." Feitan agreed, smiling smugly at the blonde across from them.

"I'm glad you were able to find something to do to entertain yourselves, since we all know you two are very hard to please." Kurapika said, Uvogin nodding in agreement and commenting "That's fair." to himself. "But what will be better than your little party is the heist we'll being doing tonight, so rest up while you can."

Feitan and Uvogin both looked at each other than back at Kurapika, both of the older men grinning.

"I thought we were postponing those." Uvogin said, though his excitement over the statement was obvious.

"It was only until you healed completely, but even then a few of us went and got some stuff anyway. But now that you're better…" the blonde trailed off, acting like it was casual slip of the rules. "Well, who is to say I'm gonna stop you if you come along?"

The larger man leaned over and gave Kurapika a bear hug, although hard to do while sitting, he managed to do so, even cracking Kurapika's back a few times.

"Thanks Kura! You've always been such a softie!"

"No I have not! Now let me go before you break my spine!"

The Spider head was released from Uvogin's grip, falling backwards when he was.

"For not being fully healed, you're already at enough strength to kill me."

"Ahh, don't worry about that! I wouldn't harm you intentionally!"

"'Intentionally' being the key word." Kurapika mumbled, standing up from where he fell as he rubbed at his back. "Now both of you get some sleep or prepare for tonight. Machi said she felt like it'd be a long night ahead of us."

They both nodded their understanding and watched Kurapika walk back to the main hall, disappearing from sight moments later. Seconds ticked by before Uvogin nudged Feitan.

"Hey Fei?"

"Yeah?"

"We're gonna kick some ass out there tonight."

"Absolutely."


	16. Chapter 16

_NOW FOR TODAY'S ACTUAL CHAPTERS WHOOO!_

* * *

Machi wasn't sure why time passed by so quickly, but it did, and she didn't like it. The troupe was already split off into groups, and this time, Kurapika said that, unfortunately, there was a lot of people to take out here, but Machi didn't mind. She was sure everyone in the troupe was willing to kill anyone the young Kurta deemed worthy of a death sentence anyway.

She scanned her group, Nobunaga and Kurapika standing off to the side, and over on another building next to theirs was Shalnark and Feitan.

Machi sighed. She didn't want to say it out loud, what her hunch was. She had felt it earlier that day during the meeting, but when questioned on it, she told Kurapika it was that they'd have a long night.

She, of course, hadn't lied to him. No, why would she? She was just simply avoiding the full truth, but nonetheless, she felt like she needed to tell at least _their leader_ of the dangers they could be facing. She steeled herself and called him over, though it came out more endearing than she had wanted it to.

"Kurapika, come over her for a bit."

She cringed at her voice but figured it had slipped when she had lost focus to ponder on how exactly to tell him the information she had. She wasn't sure what his reaction would be but she had to hope for the best.

"Yes Machi?"

She looked at him, now seeing that he had, thankfully, left Nobunaga where he had been. She sighed. How was she to best disguise her info from the others as well? Machi had no idea. She hadn't really planned it out that far.

"You've grown a lot since we all first met you." was what she said instead, though she mentally wondered how the hell she was going to get around to her intended topic.

"You think? I haven't really noticed much. I kind of feel like I've stayed the same, minus my _nen_ abilities of course." he said, smiling at her.

Machi wanted to frown, because something inside her felt like she wasn't going to see that smile for a long time after this. She hugged him lightly, taking him by surprise, but he returned the hug nonetheless.

"What's this about? You're usually not one for hugs."

"We'll probably meet Chrollo again." she murmured, though she felt him retract a bit from the hug.

"You think so?"

"It was my hunch earlier."

"Well, I suppose you weren't wrong about it being a long night, but-"

"The others don't need to know. If I'm wrong it'd just cause needless panic."

They stepped away from each other, Kurapika's face thoughtful.

"Thank you for telling me. It would've been quite a shock had it happened and had no previous warning."

"I thought as much. I at least thought you should know."

Kurapika nodded, another smile on his face.

"Well, on that note, shall we start the operation?" he asked, gaining Nobunaga's attention as he asked.

Machi gave a rare smile.

"Sure, let's do it."


	17. Chapter 17

By the way, since these next few chapters are so small, this is basically gonna be a quadruple update, so please enjoy~!

* * *

The heist was going relatively well, Kurapika thought. They had scattered the security on all of the floors, but mainly on the third one, where security was preparing a barricade against Uvogin and Phinks, a few _nen_ users among the ranks trying to take them out but failing each time.

Meanwhile he and Feitan had ended up together on the seventh floor silently fighting off the few security guards that were left there. Kurapika was sure that Machi and Nobunaga weren't having too much trouble picking off the people on the eighth floor, especially since Shalnark had already reported being in the control room and blocking off the entire fourth and fifth floors where no one could go in or out.

"Sucks to be the guys that happened to be on those two floors!" Shalnark chirped into his headset, Kurapika having to suppress a smile at his cousin's enthusiasm. "Oh, looks like Machi and Nobunaga had made it to vault! Well, it should be a matter of- hey, who are those people?"

Kurapika was about to ask what was going on when Feitan appeared beside him, directing him to another surveillance room, showing that the first floor was being flooded by people in uniforms he recognized.

"What-"

"They're supposed to be dead." came Shalnark's voice, a hint of anger coming from him. "Why are they here? How?"

Kurapika swallowed a lump that had made into his throat, clenching his hand, the chains there chinking and biting into his skin.

"It doesn't matter whether or not they were supposed to be dead, them being here just means we have to eliminate them again." he said, feeling oddly calm about the whole ordeal. "Shalnark, let everyone else know what's happening."

"Sure."

After that, everything was a blur, but by the sound of the helicopters outside of the building, the new forces were also on the roof and coming down, trapping them. He and Feitan had made it to the seventh floor eventually, seeing no point in going up to receive Machi and Nobunaga when they'd be also making their way down. Feitan had also said staying in motion would be better than sitting there like ducks, and Kurapika wholly agreed. They couldn't afford to go down now.

"Shalnark, are you able to stay at the control room without danger?"

"For now yeah, but seeing as it's on the sixth floor, it'll only take a matter of time before everyone gets here."

"Bonolenov and Kortopi are with you though?"

"Yeah, Kortopi already made multiple plate numbers saying that every door on the whole floor was the control room." Shalnark snickered, though he was probably less than amused at being trapped at the moment. "Should take a while for them to find us, plus Bonolenov is taking care of anyone that comes to the floor."

"They're getting past the fourth and fifth floors?"

"Well yeah. They can skip those floors on the elevator if they want, and even if I want to stop the elevators, it would turn off all of the lights in the building. The wiring is weird, but I guess it was supposed to prevent intruders from-"

"Do it."

"Pardon me?"

"Stop the elevators and turn off the lights. With that we could have at least a five to ten second advantage."

There was silence that settled between them as Kurapika and Feitan encountered a group of security guards that had moved together to make for a stronger offense.

"Alright. I'm letting everyone know. I'll turn off all lights in the building in thirty seconds."

Kurapika and Feitan were already engaging the group in front of them, Feitan muttering under his breath his kill count as he slashed down another guard.

"Twenty-five…"

They were already down to the last few guards when the whole building shook from an explosion, making everyone pause in what they were doing.

"Shit." came Shalnark's voice, who spit a few more curse words to the side of his mic before he said "Fuck it! Three, two, one, lights out!"

And then the building was enveloped into the darkness.


	18. Chapter 18

_I am~ so very happy~ to post this much~ in one go~_

* * *

Shalnark stood up, watching as the monitors started to dull to adjust to the darker room, making him hope that they didn't shut down themselves. He let out a relieved sigh when they stopped at the lowest brightness setting as the screens popped up with camera settings.

Shalnark used the panel in front of him to switch all cameras to infrared, secretly happy that the security system was high quality despite how hard it would have been to infiltrate it from the outside.

The images of the screens were for the most part swarms and swarms of the enemy, and he had lost count at 83 before he stopped trying to figure out many there were.

"Machi, Nobunaga, where are you?" he asked, not seeing them on any of the floors. He waited as patiently as he could before there was a crackle and then Nobunaga's voice.

"Sorry Shal, we had to abandon ship. There was no way we'd be of use if we continued further down towards Kurapika."

"No, it's fine, he can handle himself. I'm just trying to figure out who I need to keep track of."

"Understood." came Machi's voice, pausing before she took a breath and sighed. "Watch out for any anomalies on screen. Not ghosts but… someone who doesn't belong."

"Machi?"

"Just do it. And tell Kurapika when you see one, he'll know who it is."

"...Alright, I'll make sure to do that."

"Okay. Bye."

After that Shalnark was stuck looking for the rest of the troupe, while keeping his eye on Feitan and Kurapika, who had already made it down to his floor.

"Hey Kortopi, get out while you can, the less people to worry about the better."

"Make sure you get out yourself okay?" said Kortopi, touching the inside his elbow lightly. "I'll take Bonolenov with me as well. His attacks work better solo than in a team."

"Right."

After that he heard Kortopi get up and leave, the door clicking behind him softly as the chaos of battle quietly resounded above and below the fifth floor.

He began counting the troupe members again after Kortopi left. He watched as Phinks pounded a hole into the wall, only to get grabbed by Uvogin and jump out of the building, Franklin and Pakunoda going after them, only moments later to have a group of the black troops occupying the space they were in. Shalnark sighed. This was really getting too close. Wait, where was Shizuku?

He looked over the monitors trying to find her but nothing came up. She couldn't have died, she was tougher than that! Had Kortopi taken her with him? No, she had gone in with Pakunoda's group, there was no way… oh, there was that anomaly that Machi had talked about. He couldn't see the face very well but he felt himself shiver. He had met this person before, in room that smelled of blood and with the people he loved in danger.

He turned on his mic, almost numb as he made his announcement.

"Chrollo Lucilfer is in the building."


	19. Chapter 19

_I could've stopped at that last chapter, but I felt obligated to send this all your way, since it too, is a short chapter... but hey, it's still got a nice cliffhanger~_

* * *

Kurapika paused only slightly at the news, but Feitan froze in his spot, Kurapika almost continuing on without him had he not noticed the footsteps next to him stop.

"Feitan?"

"Sorry, I just-"

"It's okay, you can apologize later, we have to get out of here while still can. Shalnark, meet us out in the hall and we'll-"

"Kurapika…"

"Shal, what's wrong?"

"I'm already out of the building."

"What? But how?"

"Um…"

Feitan tensed next to him, causing Kurapika to strain his eyes over to his companion, only to hear a familiar voice only a few feet from them.

"I'm glad I found you alive. That makes my job much easier."

"Chrollo…" Feitan breathed under his breath, but both of them didn't move.

"What job?" Kurapika asked, but he got no response, just footsteps moving towards them until he was certain they were in front of Feitan.

The transmuter let out a yelp at something and then it was silent. Kurapika counted down a few seconds before he moved to where Feitan was, wondering what had happened. He felt nothing, and as far as he could see and hear, there was no blood anywhere, they were just, gone.

"What in the world…?"

"My ability. It's quite handy." came Chrollo's voice again, except it was much closer than Kurapika had expected, forcing his back to the wall.

"You're not making any sense."

"No, I'm not. At least not to you." Chrollo said, wrapping an arm quickly around Kurapika's waist. "But right now, we don't have time."

Before the Spider head could protest, he felt a twist in his stomach and he became dizzy, his arms unconsciously gripping at Chrollo's clothes. He felt himself lean into the other man, trying to make his head stop spinning, but it didn't have a chance to go away. The feeling happened two more times before Kurapika found that he was outside, on top of a building and away from where they were almost trapped. He took his time to open his eyes partly open and look around, seeing that Feitan, Shalnark, and Shizuku were also there.

"Kurapika!" Shalnark had said, almost barreling into the two of them, the younger blonde realizing embarrassingly that they probably looked way more intimate than intended. Heart beating a little too fast for such a situation, he let go of Chrollo's clothes hastily and stumbled forward into Shalnark, who caught him before his knees gave out on him.

"Hey, you alright?" Shalnark asked quietly, Kurapika giving a slight nod to his answer.

"I'm fine, just… nauseous?"

"Ah yeah, sorry about that. I didn't really have time to warn any of you of what I was doing. I'll explain it all when-"

"No, you'll tell us now." Feitan interrupted, stepping beside him almost threateningly. "Why are you here?"

A silence passed between them where Kurapika could feel how tense Feitan was but held his breath for an answer.

Chrollo eventually sighed, looking a little pained as he said the next sentence.

"My father is back."


	20. Chapter 20

_Aaahh what a lovely day today! I hope you all are also having a good day! Also, if you guys ever have any questions or comments that you'd like to make about this fic, I will be ever so glad to hear them!_

* * *

Chrollo found himself back at the abandoned building he had held Uvogin in, though he was in a different room from where he and Kurapika had fought. He cringed at the memory. God he could be embarrassing. He probably sounded like he was going through his emo phase or something with his dramatic phrasing of how he'd send them all to hell. He cringed again.

"We have a little more than half of the troupe assembled, so if you want to make your announcement to all of them, you'll have to wait a bit longer." Kurapika had said earlier, but that was ten minutes ago, and he was starting to wonder if they were planning to kill him instead. No, he had to get this information to them, Nobuhide had entrusted him with doing at least that. He sighed despite his optimism in fulfilling his goal. He had nothing else to do other than that, and Nobuhide had told him to "Figure it out yourself! It's not my job to tell you what to do! Unless you end up part of the family, then maybe a little bit." he had ended while laughing, causing Chrollo to smile to himself. He was already missing the older man's company.

A girl with black hair and glasses came into the room that he was in, motioning for him to follow her.

"Everyone is gathered and calmed."

Chrollo raised an eyebrow at the last word but nodded nonetheless, following the girl and walking into the ballroom area. The troupe had put some serious effort into making the place looking crowded and oddly comfortable. An organized mess, as some would say. They had deliberately put wooden crates and boxes everywhere and were sitting on the them, the members spread out as if to cover all escape routes. He counted only eleven people sitting, and he realized that a Spider was missing, but his thoughts moved elsewhere when his eyes landed on Kurapika. The blonde was at the top of the highest pile of boxes, reading a book that Chrollo recognized immediately as one of Shakespeare's works. He couldn't see the title of it, but the binding of the book and the attached green bookmark were the same as the copy of _The Tempest_ that he had had in his personal collection during his stay with the Mammon's.

When they got to the center of boxes, the girl he was following left to go sit next to Kurapika's cousin. Shellshark? Saladarc? He couldn't remember.

"Remind me again why we're going to listen to this guy?" some man in a Gucci tracksuit asked loudly, seeming angry at him for a reason he was unaware of.

"Because he has information on the enemy." Kurapika supplied, not looking up from his book. He flipped a page. "Any other questions before we begin?"

There was silence, allowing Kurapika time to look up and survey the room, ending on Chrollo, who resisted the urge to shift his weight, instead looking him in the eye.

"I still hate you," Chrollo said, causing at least four people to jump up from their spots and a few others to grip their weapons tightly. "But that doesn't mean I won't help you. In exchange, however, I would also like some information."

Kurapika gave him a thoughtful look, closing his book softly and placing it next to him.

"What do you want?"

"I'll ask for it after giving my half of the share."

"Okay. Deal."

Chrollo had to suppress a sigh, glad that the younger man was so agreeable. The other troupe members still seemed on edge by his comment but they sat down again, all eyes in the room on him.

"As I told you earlier, my father is back, though I'm sure it's not him, just someone else controlling his forces and _pretending_ to be him." Chrollo said, earning a few looks of suspicion.

"Where'd you get this info from?" a man wrapped in all bandages asked. "How do we know you're not working for them?"

"Because I got my information from Nobuhide." he said, watching as familiarity registered on the blonde's face in front of him. "He really is such a doting father, I think I learned more about your domestic habits than anything else." he added, sighing at remembering the hours upon hours he had endured of stories about Nobunaga, Kurapika, and… Shalnark? That sounded right. He looked up and saw that the Phantom Troupe leader was giving him an amused grin.

"I won't ask how long you had to actually spend there to hear all of his stories, but I will ask how Nobuhide is involved in this."

Chrollo silently thanked any god that was listening that he didn't have to recount how much suffering he had to go through. The stories were enjoyable to listen to, yes, but when you're trying to go to sleep they most definitely _weren't._

"He told me what he knew of the Mammon family, saying that they had stopped kidnapping kids from the town for a while after the massacre on my family, but that it had started back up a month later." he relayed, trying to remember what Nobuhide had said. "He said that all of the children fit certain requirements, usually expending a large amount of _nen_ unknowingly, and thus they were targeted in capture missions. It didn't matter if they had a family or not, they were always taken away and never seen again. Nobuhide had admitted to thinking that maybe it was someone else doing it, but the cars were the same and the people wore the same thing as before too."

Kurapika nodded, putting a hand to his chin.

"Did he tell you about-"

"How you almost got abducted? Yes, he told me."

Shalnark stood up, looking at Kurapika.

"You what?"

"Nobuhide told me not to tell you so that you wouldn't worry. He saved me anyway, so it's not like anything was wrong." Kurapika said nonchalantly, though it seemed like he was telling a half truth. "Anyway, you were saying?" he said, glancing back at Chrollo.

Chrollo considered not speaking when Shalnark seemed so intent on knowing what happened, but then again, so did the rest of the troupe, who all seemed more concerned for their leader than before. Chrollo decided to continue as if nothing had happened.

"Due to Nobuhide having stopped the vehicle before it could disappear, I was able to examine the evidence left behind from the attack."

"That old car in the back?" Shalnark voiced out loud, and the man that looked like a younger Nobuhide, presumably Nobunaga, tried to not seem surprised. Chrollo confirmed it with a nod.

"He said he hadn't touched anything, so if I am to take his word into account, then what I found is more disturbing than I would've liked to think." Chrollo said, more so speaking for himself and his experience with his family than anything else. "There were briefcases in there that contained many poisons, most of them either knockout gas or chloroform, but others were of a new mix that I had not researched about previously. After doing testing, there were two new substances that I found. The first being meant to cause insomnia and hallucinations, most likely something that could be used in torture."

He felt a pain run through his head at the mention of it, but he ignored it.

"The second one wasn't really something that'd be normally used for any type of abduction, in fact the people in the car probably used it on themselves. It was a liquid that was in a syringe, and it could be injected into people in order to give them strength. It forms a ball of energy into the target and continuously expands, so one would have to continuously use it until it depleted completely to get rid of it."

Chrollo noted how some color drained from Kurapika's face, but he said nothing.

"Okay, but why were you in Meteor City in the first place?" asked Shalnark, who still looked pretty mad for having not been told that his cousin had almost been abducted.

"Simple. I was there to try and disprove what Kurapika had said about my family not being my actual relatives."

"And what were your finds?" Kurapika asked, some of the color in his skin back, along with his mask of composure.

In a way, his appearance made him look like a prince, poised, elegant, and ready to command his army onto any field... Chrollo shook the thought away. He needed to concentrate on what he was here for.

"There wasn't much conclusive evidence to really support either side unfortunately. However, I was able to confirm that the forces that took out your clan was of the Mammon family. Apparently they had sent out applications to some of the residents promising them power if they joined, but all contact with the people who did were lost after they accepted it." Chrollo said, remembering how exasperated one man had been after he had lost his brother, who had accepted it to see if it was fake or not. He pitied him. They didn't know what they were getting into.

Kurapika stared at him for a while longer but said nothing. Chrollo found himself hoping he couldn't read minds. He still had a lot to hide from these people.

"Is that all you have on the enemy?" he saw a large tan man ask, the one he remembered torturing. "It sounds like you've got more to say."

Chrollo nodded, glad that the topic was staying on his father's previous forces.

"Yes. In fact, while I was in Meteor City, there was an attempted kidnapping. While we were unable to stop the car, we were able to track it to here in York New." Chrollo said, pulling out a map from inside his coat. "The signal got a little scattered when it reached a certain point in the city but it seems to be close to the auction sites."

He opened up the map, revealing a large circle surrounding the middle part of the city. There were a few notes scribbled next to the side in Nobuhide's handwriting that he couldn't understand, but he ignored them for now, instead showing the troupe the area to the best of his ability, some of them nodding in recognition of the place that was circled. He folded it up and put it in his pocket when he was done, sighing before continuing.

"The only other thing that I can conclusively give is that I traced back some information left about the plan you had mentioned. Plan 28DVH." Chrollo said, directing his attention back to Kurapika. "There wasn't a lot left due to deterioration from years of weathering, but from the data that was readable on some papers from the car was that you were supposed to be the 13th heir, and that it was expected for you to be specialize in stealth missions and be apart of the larger army."

"Larger army?" Kurapika asked, intrigue crossing his face gracefully. Gracefully? Chrollo willed the awkward descriptive word away from his mind.

"Apparently my father had planned on making an army of "demons," but that was part of a separate plan that just happened to coincide with Plan 28DVH." he shrugged, as if it was no big deal. After all the surprises he had gone through in the past week, an army from hell wasn't all too shocking, though the fact that his father had made the idea still bothered him. "It was to make a demon company, ones that would have permanent effects of the second drug I had mentioned earlier; the energy in the syringe."

"Wait," the one who spoke this time was the girl with pink hair, giving him a look of concern. "So what you're saying is that he had plans to do this? Wouldn't that be impossible given that the test results said that the energy would disappear after being used?"

Chrollo looked at her, remembering that she and Nobunaga had escaped the auction building before he even got to them.

"Impossible is the wrong word. If you don't use it all, the energy will stay there and continue to manifest in exponential amounts at a time. Too much build up would kill someone, but that's besides the point. People who had this mostly never tire and are probably able to hold themselves better in fighting, though wherever the energy was originally stored might hurt them a bit if it's used too quickly."

She opened her mouth to say something but seemed to daze out before clenching her fists slightly.

"Let me guess." she said almost angrily, though he could hear some hesitance in her voice. "The enemies at the auction building, the ones that swarmed us… they were the demon army, weren't they?"

"Bingo."


	21. Chapter 21

_THIS IS THE HALFWAY MARK GUYS! WE'RE ALMOST TO THE END! Idk if I'm the only one excited about this but hey! It's been fun ride with you guys up until now! Hopefully you all are willing to stick with me till we finish this all up!_

* * *

Feitan felt an odd pressure whenever he was around Chrollo. It felt painful, and he hated it. Had his older brother not recognized him or was it too dark to see? Was he not worth remembering or was it suppressed along with his other memories? Maybe there was a way to get him to remember or maybe there was no way at all?

He walked over to the hall that looked over the ballroom, having made a circle back to that area for the fifth time since this whole meeting had started. He swore to himself. If he heard Chrollo call that Mammon man his father again, he would personally make sure it never happened again. He heard them say something about how some experimented super humans were part of his abductor's plans, and that they were the intruders that had invaded the building.

Feitan felt like he couldn't be more surprised, but some of the troupe members started talking immediately. Things such as what it could possibly mean that the army had come after them and what were they supposed to do about this new threat, but Feitan felt that none of that really mattered. Not now at least. They first needed to get Chrollo on their side, to make sure he wasn't lying-

"And what would you want in exchange for this information." Kurapika's voice echoed through the room, silencing all of the troupe members.

Feitan stopped in the pacing that he was unconsciously doing, straining his ears to hear the reply. There was a silence and a shuffling of feet on the floor below, the short transmuter assuming that it was Chrollo's.

"If it's not too much trouble, I would ask if I could not request in front of everyone. If it was two people maybe, but…" Chrollo trailed off, and Feitan could tell everyone was already starting to think of reasons to oppose.

"Understood." Kurapika said immediately, the sound of him standing from where he was catching in Feitan's ears. "Shizuku, go get Feitan. We'll hear his request in another room."

Feitan felt like running to avoid confronting Chrollo again. He wasn't even sure if he himself was ready to see his brother. He couldn't stand it if all he got was a blank stare and a question to who he was. He was about to bolt before he realized Shizuku was before him, staring at him and waiting for him to notice her there.

"Let's go." was all she said before walking past him, probably showing him the way to the room they were supposed to have the separate meeting in.

He didn't even have time to think, his body moving on it's own to follow her, despite his mind protesting. His body managed to get him all the way to the door before he stopped, finally catching control of what he was doing.

"I don't want to-" he started to say to Shizuku but stopped when he heard Kurapika talking.

"You have your smaller audience, now what is it that you want?"

Feitan shifted his vision past Shizuku and to Chrollo, who was currently staring at his feet.

"I know that I don't know anything about before I was taken in by the Mammon family, and I feel that it will benefit us both if my request is fulfilled, no matter how selfish of a request it may be." he started, looking up and towards where Feitan assumed Kurapika was standing. "But I would like for you and your troupe to help me remember my past."


	22. Chapter 22

_Not sure how exactly I'm going to decide how to updates anymore. Word count? Chapter count? Whichever cliffhanger is the best? Who knows... who knows..._

* * *

Chrollo held his breath, hoping that somehow they just might be the key to helping him remember. He could feel something was wrong, every time he tried to remember. His head would start to throb, he would forget what he was currently doing, and he would be flooded with vivid images of splattered blood and a dark gray room, the feeling of cold steel around his limbs, and a loud sound of sobs of names that he could never recall.

He saw the blonde in front of him look as if he was expecting his request, motioning Shizuku and the other short man in, the one he had called Feitan. He felt his head throb sharply at the name, and he had to actually bite on his tongue to prevent himself from giving away his pain. He looked familiar too, his eyes, his stature, even his hair… another throb, just as bad as the first, as if signaling for him to stop thinking about it. He was glad when Kurapika started talking again, turning his attention to the Phantom Troupe leader.

"First we'll need to tell you what is preventing you from accessing your memories." he said, crossing his arms. "When we were trying to investigate who you were before you had returned from Meteor City, it was revealed that some of the troupe members knew you from back then."

Chrollo couldn't help the feeling of surprise from showing on his face. He already knew the troupe? Who were they? Had he hurt them already? Did some of them hate him now? He pushed those thoughts away as Kurapika continued to talk.

"We had questioned why you hadn't recognized Uvogin, who was the one you had held captive a few nights ago."

Chrollo felt his head begin to hurt again now that he finally had a face with a name, and now that Kurapika had said it, it really _did_ seem awfully familiar. He tried to remember more things about this Uvogin but he felt the pain in his skull become worse, refocusing on the blonde's voice to distract himself.

"From our meeting we had concluded that there was a high possibility that you had been tortured, though we had no real evidence until my cousin found a microchip we used when we had downloaded information of all of Mammon's projects. We hadn't bothered to go through the whole thing since they were all to be assassinated anyway, but the evidence we had needed was there. You were tortured for over 48 hours before you finally broke, and it seems as if gaining past memories now is trouble for you because now you have anything before that moment blocked off." the Spider head said, uncrossing his arms to place them on his hips, which made him look all too attractive for just explaining that he had been in so much pain that his mind had forcibly blocked out his past. "We happen to have someone who has experience in remembering her past, and even though she debriefed me a bit on the procedure I'm still not quite sure how it works…" the blonde trailed off, glancing over at Shizuku who had stepped forward, Feitan stepping behind her just enough to still keep an eye on him.

Chrollo felt how familiar this situation was, and then an image of a young woman with the smaller version of Feitan flashed before his eyes before he saw the dark gray room again he could feel pain on his back and wrists. He felt himself blink multiple times to get himself back to reality, his mind already feeling like it was on the border of reality and sleep.

"Do you want to go through with this? You look pale." Kurapika commented, bringing Chrollo back a bit. "We can always do this another time if you want."

"No, it's fine. I'd rather try today and get somewhere than not." he said, trying to reason with not only the Phantom Troupe leader but also his body.

There was a pause before he saw an arm movement and then Shizuku walk in front of him, her wide eyes staring at him from behind her thick rimmed glasses. He was sure she would side with Kurapika when she shook her head, but instead she turned half towards her leader and addressed him simply.

"If his will is strong enough he should be able to make it, though I won't be able to gauge the pain he'll go through, so he could pass out unwillingly."

"That's fine." Chrollo said a little too quickly, but he didn't care.

He took a quick glance at Feitan only to have another memory resurface; an image of a younger Feitan watching him from afar as he was entering a small dirtied house and the air warm and welcoming. He regretted doing so almost immediately when his mind became wracked with the strong smell of iron and the feeling of a thick liquid, most likely blood, trickling. Someone was sobbing in the background.

"The easiest thing to do to recover your memory is by giving you a catalyst. It seems you already recognize Feitan," she said, motioning to the shorter man who seemed ready to either run or cry, maybe even both. It was hard to tell since half his face was hidden. "So we'll start with things that we know that might trigger your memory."

Chrollo looked at her curiously.

"What do you already know?"

Shizuku motioned Feitan to step forward, who did so slowly and hesitantly.

"Chrollo," she said seeming to try and gauge his reaction. "This is your brother."

Chrollo's and Feitan's eyes met, causing a flood of images and scenes to appear in his mind. A soccer field they played in along with the other children there, the games they invented increasing in ridiculousness each time it changed. His first meeting with Uvogin and Nobunaga, where they were both beaten and bruised but smiling nonetheless. His meeting with Pakunoda, who was trying to convince a younger Machi out from the shadows to give her food. A face, Franklin's, smiling for the first time since he had met him, patting his head for something he had done. Then there was Feitan and their shared mother, who was kind to them both and treated them equally. A scene of her cooking the last of the rice and vegetables they had in celebration of Feitan's birthday one year, the smell still pure and simple. Then there was a few pictures of getting grappled by a black car, his past self struggling to get out of their grip until he was knocked out. Next was the gray room, the chains around his wrists and feet, the hard wooden chair beneath him soaked and dyed with blood. A faceless man, seeming to shift shapes and forms as he was subjected to being poked and prodded at with sharp metal objects. Pain, he felt a lot of it, most of it numbing at that point, but hot tears were still streaking down his face. He felt tired, hungry, ready to give up, but Feitan's face flashed in his mind and he felt some bit of hope and happiness.

The throbbing pain in his head brought Chrollo back to the present, where it seemed as if only a few seconds had passed. The pain was excruciating, and he felt like he was about to collapse, but it didn't matter. He remembered now.

He was still looking at Feitan, who looked scared, and somehow Chrollo had the energy in him to smile softly at his brother, brushing a few hairs back from his face to better see his eyes.

"I lived for you." was all he managed to say to him before he felt his eyes droop and everything fade to black, the world drifting from his consciousness with screams filling the void.


	23. Chapter 23

_SO I just learned I'm not going to be having wifi for the next two days... so that means two days worth of updates added onto today's batch! Fun!_

* * *

It took only a few hours for Chrollo to awake again, and this time it was Chrollo to fill them in with what he remembered. It seemed that by just being told who exactly Feitan was had triggered all of his memories to flood back, and it was surprising, even to Shizuku. 'Normally it would've taken much longer to get his memories back.' Shizuku had muttered after visiting him when he had awoken. Uvogin couldn't care less how long or short it was supposed to take him to remember, all that mattered was that he was _back._

"Chrollo! Wassup man! Thought you were going to kill me when you saw me again!" Uvogin said, bursting into Chrollo's temporary resting room despite the protest of the people standing on guard at his door.

"Uvogin!" Chrollo called back, his face lighting up the way it used to back in Meteor City whenever he saw the bigger man. Uvogin couldn't help but grinning, plopping down on his bed as he slapped him hard on the shoulder.

"You sure are a tough nut to crack. Didn't think you'd even last till now and yet here you are, memories still intact!"

"Most of them." Chrollo corrected, rubbing his shoulder that was hit. "And I would like to apologize for my earlier behavior. When we met I shouldn't have-"

"No no no, you don't get to do that." Uvogin said, stopping the dark haired man from speaking. "That may have _been_ you, but it's not you anymore. Who you are is based off your memories and experiences, so technically you're back to your regular self now, meaning you don't need to apologize for your actions!"

"Uvogin, I almost made you bleed to death."

"And I almost broke your arm when I first hugged you. You just made the tie even. Though I have to admit, I didn't recognize you when I first saw ya, you'd grown up so fast, and hell, we all thought ya dead!"

Chrollo rolled his eyes, but then pulled out the map he had shown the troupe earlier, the one Uvogin recalled had that blurry red line circling a certain area.

"It doesn't count but I suppose you won't let me push the topic further even if I wanted to. Anyway, Nobuhide wrote something here that I can't understand, do you think you could translate it?"

Uvogin took the map and pretended to try and read it, only making out a few characters if he squinted. He shook his head.

"Nah, old man's writing is as bad as ever. I'll ask Nobunaga for ya though."

Chrollo gave a small smile.

"Thanks."

"No problem." Uvogin said, walking out of the room to find his friend.

He passed two people on the way to finding Nobunaga, but he couldn't remember who they were, not like it mattered though. When he finally found him he was sitting in some random room and inspecting the corners.

"Nobunaga, yo! Whatcha doing?"

"I'm seeing if this room would suffice as a practice room." he said without turning around. Uvogin snorted.

"Nerd."

Nobunaga gave him a sharp glare before noticing he had the map in his hand.

"Uvogin, why do you have that?" he said crossing the room to take a look at the map. "And why is my dad's writing on this?"

"Chrollo asked if I could translate it but-"

"You don't have your reading glasses on you do you?" Nobunaga accused, looking up from the map and raising an eyebrow. Uvogin shrugged, instead raising the map higher in front of Nobunaga to avoid the question.

"It doesn't matter if I did or not, I could never really read whatever you guys wrote. Listening to it, maybe; speaking it, hell no. Anyway, what does it say? …Nobunaga?"

"Why did my father write this?"

"Write what?" came Machi's voice as Uvogin turned to see her walking into the room, strolling past him and around to the other side of the map.

There was silence before Machi started laughing, which she quickly stifled, but her bent over form backed up into a wall as she continued to giggle into her hand.

"Nobunaga what the fuck did he write?" Uvogin whined, pulling the map away a bit to get the other to respond.

Nobunaga cursed before he took the map completely from his hands.

"He was telling Chrollo he could help him with romantic advice if he needed it. Though while _I_ have no idea why he wrote it, it seems that to Machi it's the funniest thing to ever exist!" he said almost angrily, though he didn't look like it.

"What? But what did he talk about there then? Didn't he go to disprove his family being fake and what not?"

The small room got silent asides from Machi finishing off her laughing fit. She stood up straighter when she was done, patting off invisible dust from her clothes.

"Didn't he say during the meeting that he learned about your guy's domestic habits?" Machi asked, looking like she had calmed down significantly.

"What you mean 'your guy's'?" Nobunaga asked, raising an eyebrow at her. "You mean me, Shal, and Kura?"

"Yeah, but didn't he mostly say that to Kurapika?"

They all kind of stared at each other before realization started dawning on them.

"He couldn't mean..."

"Well there is the possibility..."

"Isn't he too old for him though?"

"Maybe it's a mistake…"

They all stopped talking, looking nowhere in particular as Nobunaga took a deep breath.

"Look, we know how odd my father is. Maybe he thought that because Chrollo was looking for the Phantom Troupe that when he wanted information on Kurapika he took it the wrong way? I mean, he probably thought Chrollo was an old friend or something."

"That's true, we're probably worrying over nothing." Machi said, and Uvogin agreed. There was no way Chrollo would like Kurapika, he had just said he hated him in the meeting! Unless... he was lying to himself? But why would he do that?

Uvogin thought back to how Chrollo used to act. Stubborn in his decisions, confident in what he did and didn't know even if he was wrong, and oblivious to emotions that pertained to himself. No, maybe he changed? But stuff like that isn't something you could break out of a person, hence why Chrollo was still able to face them even when he didn't know them. Uvogin stopped Machi and Nobunaga from talking, since they had struck up a conversation while he was thinking.

"Guys, I know Nobuhide is a weird guy, we all do. But he's always been oddly perceptive, sober or drunk. The possibility still remains that even though Chrollo may not know his feelings, but Nobuhide does." Uvogin said, hoping they'd get where he was going.

"But it sounds like Chrollo doesn't actually love him though." Machi said, crossing her arms. "He hasn't fallen. If he has it's not very obvious."

"Exactly!" Uvogin said, happy she had pointed out. "That's because he isn't yet! But Nobuhide must've seen the start of it!"

"How? Besides, what good is this message if Chrollo can't even read it?" Nobunaga asked, throwing his hands out, map still in one hand.

"Because the message wasn't for him idiot!" Uvogin stated triumphantly, glad he had figured this whole thing out before his friends. "It was meant as a message to us!"


	24. Chapter 24

_Updates are now being determined by which cliffhanger I like the best. That means less suffering for me, but more suffering for you! Ah... maybe that's not such a good idea... I should treat you guys right... but... the angst..._

 _...anyway! Please enjoy these next few chapters!_

* * *

Nobunaga shook his head as he walked away from the training room, following Uvogin back to Chrollo's room to explain what the note was. Well, not exactly. They had made up a new meaning to avoid bringing up any love business. They had all decided to secretly watch it as it developed. If it did develop, that was.

When he heard that Uvogin had told the lie properly he walked off to call his father, wondering what the hell he was thinking for sending a letter like that. What if Kurapika or Shalnark had seen it first? They definitely would've taken it the wrong way.

He reached into his sleeve and pulled out his phone, dialing a number by memory, only having to wait three rings before it stopped.

"Hello?"

"Dad, what the _fuck_ did that message mean?"

There was laughter on the other end of the line as Nobunaga kept walking, now trying to locate a quiet corner to be in.

"I'm glad to see Chrollo made it to you guys!" he said instead, laughter still going on in the background. It sounded like someone else was there, but Nobunaga didn't care. He wanted a better answer than that.

" _Dad_."

"Alright alright, jeez you're such a party pooper." Nobuhide said, shuffling going on on the other side of the line, and then the sound of him stretching. "You wanna know why I sent it right?"

"Please."

"The kid acted how I acted when I first met your mother… Did I ever tell you that story?"

"Uh…" Nobunaga hesitated, trying to figure out if he had. He shook his head. His father never spoke of her until after he stopped drinking, so he probably hadn't heard it. "I don't think so."

"Ha! Well, if you were here I'd tell you the long version but it seems as if you've got other things to do, so I'll keep it short. Your mother was originally sent to assassinate me. Quite the ambush I gotta tell you. She and I fought for some time, even had a crowd gathered as we did. Anyway, I ended up defeating her, and when I say defeat I mean by barely, like, I-almost-lost-a-leg-and-two-arms barely!"

Nobunaga felt himself sigh, but then again, the few memories he did have of his mom was either her smiling down on him like the angel she was or keeping his father in check, which was a hard task to do. He smiled slightly at that.

"I'm not surprised." he responded, hearing his father chuckle at the other end of the phone, making him smile more.

"Yeah, she didn't really get hurt, just accidentally slipped up. Ran her back into a pole and knocked the breath out of herself. Honestly, I'm so lucky I'm alive."

"I can tell." Nobunaga grunted, finally finding a place to sit in a room that had only two windows in it. He sat down as his father continued.

"Very funny Nobu." came Nobuhide's sarcastic answer, the phone crackling before his voice came back again. "Besides that point though, she disappeared after that, and I was desperate to find out more about her, even though the chances of me finding her again were close to zero since her clan was _huge_. I still visited, of course, like the stupid asshole I was, asking for information about her even though I'm sure her whole clan was hired to kill me. Anyway, apparently when I went asking around I accidentally came off as wanting to court her, so the clan members were telling me all sorts of stories about her when she was younger and- did I ever tell you that she loved to capture frogs when she was five? Cute right? Just like what you used to do too!"

Nobunaga groaned, his face flushing slightly from the memories of catching frogs with his mom.

"And then before you knew it I was dating your mother and then we were married! Quite a twist of fate don't you think?"

"Yeah, but what made you think that that applied to Chrollo?"

"Hmm," there was a pause on the other end, and Nobunaga could imagine his father scratching at his chin trying to think of a decent answer. "Just a feeling I guess. Though I guess it hardly matters what I think, I'm just an old man in Meteor City right?"

"Dad, we don't call you that!" Nobunaga defended, disregarding what Uvogin always said. He always called his dad 'old man,' even though he knew his name.

"I know I'm just teasing! But you keep a look out for it alright? You'll see what I mean soon enough."

"I highly doubt it."

Nobuhide laughed, only stopping to listen to someone in the background before turning back to the phone.

"Hey, I gotta go, Berry is gonna start working on the car out in the back to see if she can find anything else, and if I don't supervise she might just take the whole thing apart and make a machine gun."

"I would not! It doesn't even have good enough parts for that!" Nobunaga heard Berry shout in the background, and he had to stifle a laugh.

"Okay, see you later then."

"May the sword be with you my son."

He hung up, ready to get up and find Machi and Uvogin to tell them his father's insights but Shalnark ran up to him, grinning from ear to ear like he had heard the best news of his life.

"Hey Nobu," he said, voice trembling like he was trying to contain his excitement. "We have a plan."


	25. Chapter 25

_As you can tell, these past few chapters were me giving poor attempts at setting up romance hahaha ;;;_

 _It actually pertains the story I promise! Keeping in contact with them is a good thing!_

* * *

Instead of calling a meeting, Kurapika had made a decision to just tell Shalnark, Kortopi and Machi about his plan, which had been approved beforehand by Chrollo, which apparently the Kurta had ran the idea by him as soon as he had woken up.

Machi wasn't fond of the plan. She had seen better and more expertly directed plans than the one she was sent to deliver, but this one guaranteed everyone's safety, and she couldn't deny that they needed it. What with Uvogin still not being completely recovered and with the added addition of taking their former enemy with them, she knew it was the right choice. She just had this feeling that the group was going to split up, a hunch of hers. The same one that made her clench her fists slightly and make her feel off balance. Those ones. But she said nothing, because nothing about the hunch indicated something bad, just that it would happen.

Machi sighed. She wish she had said something. After delivering her news to Phinks and Feitan, she ended up before Chrollo's door, wondering if she was supposed to deliver the news to him. She shrugged, opening the door to find him and Uvogin _still_ talking.

"Man, I never heard that story, but it sounds hilarious! No wonder Kurapika didn't let Shal tell us!" Uvogin said rather loudly, causing Machi to wince, the two men looking at her when she did.

"Oi, Machi, listen to this. Nobuhide told Chrollo about how when Kurapika was tiny that he would try to follow Shalnark and Nobuhide everywhere, but when they weren't in the same room or together he'd get really torn about who to follow and would start crying!"

" _That's_ hilarious?" Machi asked, raising an eyebrow at the larger man. He flushed a bit before turning his head to the wall.

"Okay, not _hilarious_ , just really endearing. Remember when he used to be that small? I can only imagine how cute that would've been. Kind of sad he stopped that before he met us though."

"Wait, how young was he when he met you guys?" Chrollo asked, sitting up straighter in his bed. Machi wanted to deny him the information, seeing as they had just been messaged by Nobuhide about him being Kurapika potential suitor, but when Machi made eye contact with Uvogin, he only smiled.

"Well he was probably around four-ish? Maybe five?" Uvogin answered, getting up from the bed and stretching. "But! I won't tell you anymore!"

"What?"

"I think anymore info you get should be from Kurapika himself. I feel like I'm betrayin' him for this anyway, ya know what I mean?" he asked, smiling just the same.

Chrollo was slow to pick up where the conversation was going but eventually nodded, having the gall to look disappointed, as if he had more questions.

"Right, of course. I have just recently come back from the opposing side, so I suppose it's only natural."

"Aww, don't put it that way Chrollo! I'm just saying you shouldn't hear it from a secondary source! It's not my story to tell!" Uvogin said, walking to the door and tugging Machi with him. "Anyway, Machi, earlier you said you needed to talk to me about something?"

Machi played along, instead turning around with him to walk out the door.

"Yeah, took you forever." she accused, walking away in a direction she hadn't gone in yet. "Besides how long you took, Kurapika wanted me to tell you about the plan we're gonna be doing tonight. He decided to cancel all heists except for this one, which, when you hear it, will be understandable why.

"We're going to be using the heist as a cover to get into the underground system that Mammon's forces are using. We'll allow a few of them to escape in order to chase them in, but after that we'll pull back and go at our own pace to figure things out. Since we don't know the layout, going slowly will be better for us and worse for them, since ambushes will be kind of useless if we're all on guard."

Uvogin grunted in agreement, crossing his arms in thought.

"But why are we going in tonight? Wouldn't it be better to give it some time before we attack?"

"I would like to think so too, but the faster we try to nip this in the bud, the easier it will be on us to take them down. If what Chrollo had claimed was true about them still taking children, they're probably being manipulated to be in this army as well." Machi said, grimacing. "I hate fighting children."

"You don't even like children." Uvogin pointed out, and she gave him a pointed look.

"Exactly."

"Hey Machi! Kortopi said that he told everyone else the message so we're done!" Shalnark called out to her, waving his hands as he did.

Nobunaga forced the excited blonde's arms down, but Shalnark was still grinning.

"It's been so long since we've had an invasion, especially going into it knowing people will fight back! Oh, this will be so much fun!"

"Quit it already, we know!" Nobunaga said, poking Shalnark on his shoulder.

Machi let out a sigh. His enthusiasm was contagious, and she had a reputation to keep up, so she glared at him as well, but Uvogin went along with it.

"I know right? Can't wait! This will be the most fun we've had in months!"

"You always say that!" Shalnark said, lightly punching at the broader man. "But anyway, weren't you just talking to Chrollo? What took so long?"

"Oh, well he was recounting some of the stories he got told by Nobuhide! A lot of them were about Kurapika though, not that I minded! He must of been so cute before we met him!"

"Yeah, he really was! Shy but adventurous you know! Wait a second… why were you talking about that anyway?" Shalnark asked, giving a suspicious look to Uvogin. Machi felt her hands go cold. She glanced at Nobunaga who she could tell also wasn't sure what to do. Do they tell him or not?

"Well, I asked him what he and Nobuhide had talked about-"

"But why, he already told us during the meeting."

"I… maybe it'd be easier to show you…" Uvogin said, starting to pull out the map when Nobunaga stepped forward and pushed it back.

"Or I can tell him, and you guys, what my father just told me."

"You called Nobuhide just now?" Machi asked, surprised at how quickly he had done it.

"Yes, and, well, he meant exactly what we thought he meant, but with an odd reason that related to him and my mom meeting."

"So he thinks Chrollo-"

"Was like him when he went searching for my mom? Yes." Nobunaga said sighing, running a hand over his face. "Honestly I don't want to believe it but-"

"Whoa whoa whoa, what are you guys talking about? You gotta tell me, you can't keep this forever!" Shalnark said, interrupting what they were discussing.

Nobunaga and Uvogin looked at Machi, and she sighed. She didn't want to do this, but it looked like she had no choice.

"It seems that we have reason to believe that Chrollo might fall in love with Kurapika."


	26. Chapter 26

_I think I'm almost done with the compensation chapters... almost... For all I know this could be the last chapter I post and then disappear for two days. Kind of don't want to stop, sort of know I have to. Either way it's still more for you guys though ahahaha! :D_

* * *

Out of all the times to have news like this and he didn't know what to do with it! Machi, with the help of Nobunaga and Uvogin, explained the reasons they had with evidence from Nobuhide, who was the one to start the prediction. Shalnark couldn't understand. They were here to fight a demon army and it's controller, not to witness a shoujo manga happy ending!

He would have to be more careful about Chrollo, no matter how much the other's trusted him. Kurapika was the only part of his family, related or not, that was from his past, and he wanted to make sure nothing bad happened to him.

As he got ready for the fake heist, he had heard that Chrollo was also informed of the plan and was to be going with them, to Shalnark's dismay.

He wouldn't let anyone ruin his good mood though. He was still looking forward to this a lot, and he had decided he would stay right next to Kurapika as much as he could. He paused in his preparations, smiling at how stupid he sounded. Like an overprotective parent trying to scare away a suitor, but instead, trying to prevent one from ever getting too close. After that thought, he was content with being the overly scary cousin who wouldn't let any harm near Kurapika. Or, at least try to without being overbearing.

As he finished up his tasks, they all started going over the finer details of the plan, and also emphasizing that they weren't there for the treasures, but if you can, grab some if you like, but that you're responsible for it when they entered the underground. Everyone seemed pretty resolute on just going without it, so Kurapika dropped the point.

Soon, the Phantom Troupe found themselves outside of the building they were to take over, Shalnark with Kurapika, Feitan, Chrollo, Kortopi, and Shizuku.

"So, we're literally walking right through the front doors?" asked Shizuku, who was attempting to look at the towering buildings upper floors from where they stood.

"Yup. We want them to set off the alarm remember." Kortopi answered, stretching out his hands as he did. "And when we enter, the others will start the chaos, and then the troops will show up."

"Oh, right!" Shizuku said triumphantly, as if she hadn't been reminded about it for the sixth time that night.

As soon as the time hit ten o'clock, they walked in, Shalnark looking around the hotel as if he were a tourist. The lady at the desk smiled at them, unknowing of what was about to go down.

"Hello, how may I help you?" she asked politely, and Shalnark turned and smiled at her.

"If you could clear the building for us, that'd be great." he answered, slipping over to the front desk. Her smile faltered.

"Pardon me?"

"If you don't there will be more casualties," he explained cheerily as he watched color drain from her face. "Because all hell is about to break loose."

As soon as he said that, the alarms went off, and the sounds of people shouting and guns going off was heard near the back of the building. Shalnark continued to smile as he watched the receptionist run out from behind her desk and away from the building, some security guards starting to step forward from their hiding places.

"Hey, who are-" and then his voice was cut off as a needle stuck out from his chest, Shalnark giddily using his phone to control him.

He turned the bodyguard around to face his friend, who seemed bewildered when he was shot by his partner's gun.

"Shalnark!" Kurapika said disapprovingly, but Shalnark shrugged.

"What? It's be killed or get killed now. You know that."

He got no response as more security guards came in, though a few took the smart route and fled, some of them seeming to understand their fate if they stood their ground.

Shalnark greeted the newcomers as Kortopi made another receptionist desk on top of the one to use as a barricade for him and Shizuku, as Feitan, Chrollo, and Kurapika took spots surrounding it as if to guard it.

"Well gentlepeople, it was lovely seeing all of your faces tonight, but I'm afraid that this is only a one time show!" Shalnark said, turning his bodyguard around toward the others. "I hope you enjoy what we have to offer!"


	27. Chapter 27

_AND this is the last chapter I'm gonna leave you all off on! You guys will probably kill me but I can't do anything about that! Have fun with this chapter guys!_

* * *

It only took ten minutes for the demon army to arise from nowhere, surrounding the building and swarming in where they could. Feitan could see some young teens in the ranks, and just thinking that they could've been from Meteor City made him sick. So he ignored it, only paying attention to whether or not they were moving.

He took a few glimpses of the others to see how they were fairing.

Shalnark seemed to be doing okay, having moved his two needles into some of the demon soldiers and seemed to have had relocating himself to the top of Kortopi's barrier. Kurapika seemed to be doing fine, but was struggling a bit with the hand-to-hand combat; probably trying to avoid activating his eyes or his _nen_ in general. Chrollo seemed to actually be holding himself pretty well, using a knife to make his opponents drop instantly. Some took longer than others of course, but the knife seemed to do its job. He also hadn't activate his _nen_.

Feitan approved of the situation himself. All four of them covered each other well, barely letting openings get through, but even then they were stopped by Kortopi throwing copies of fake potted plants and Shizuku sucking up dead bodies when she could.

A few of the soldiers, if Feitan decided to focus enough, had greyed skin, and blackened eyes, even a few having awkward extra limbs like leather wings and curved horns protruding from their heads. Feitan wasn't sure if experimenting went too far or if they really just wanted to make a demon army. Not that he cared, it just seemed like a waste of time to him.

Eventually there were only a few left, and even Feitan could see that they knew what was going on, a few of them even giving signs of wanting to escape. Feitan felt himself smile. Only a few more would try to attack, then upon seeing a failure in that, turn to retreat.

Two demons decided to attack Kurapika, who deflected both of them, one recovering in mid air due to it's wings and came back for another attack. Kurapika didn't have time to react, but Chrollo covered for him, slashing down the soldier, allowing Kurapika to finish off the other one that hadn't recovered. Feitan turned his attention back to the remaining few, who seemed terrified by the deadly precision in which the others were killed. He thought they would leave, but they didn't seem ready to until Shizuku stepped out from behind Kortopi's fading barrier and brought out Blinky, who sucked up their two comrades right in front of them. That's when they ran.

They gave chase with only a moment's hesitation between them, their whole group following behind the remaining members of the army. Feitan looked around as they ran, wondering why there was no reinforcements. It was probably a trap, but that's just what they wanted, so he ignored it.

The soldiers turned a corner and went down a set of stairs to the right, and they all paused before proceeding carefully, the stairway seeming to lead down into a subway of a sorts. They got to the bottom of the steps in time to see the demons scamper down onto the railway tracks and run into the tunnel, disappearing from their line of view due to their vision not yet adjusting to the dark. When they did though, they heard other soldiers run by, only to be followed closely by the other group, bringing the Phantom Troupe together.

"Is everyone here?" he heard Bonolenov ask close by, but no one answered, instead all of them jumping down onto the subway tracks and following after the remaining people from the demon army.

Eventually, the subway tunnel turned into… not a subway tunnel. It became more cave like, the wall becoming slicker as they went with condensation and the path turning from linear metal rows to a flat rock surface. Even the noises they made became more echoed, and the sound of water dripping somewhere was constant. Feitan could feel a chill coming from up ahead where there was some light, and he didn't really want to continue. Not out of fear, but because he knew something good wouldn't come from it.

As soon as they went through the light near the end of the cave, they were only greeted with a larger space in the cave, a seemingly bottomless pit underneath the path, and the only thing keeping it up was flimsy looking rock formations that made it bridge to the other side. The walls on the outside seemed to form a sphere, with tunnels and holes leading to other places that they were unable to reach, bringing Feitan's thoughts back to how some of the soldiers in the army looked like bats and lizards, making him peer into every hole he could to see if any demons resided in them. He spotted a few and tugged on Chrollo's jacket out of habit, and pointed them out to him. He nodded, having seen them too, but stayed silent, obviously waiting for the creatures to make a move first. Eventually one did, a bat looking humanoid landing in front of their way as if to stop them.

"Don't take another step, or we'll be forced to take action."

"You think you could harm us after what we did to your companions?" Kurapika asked smoothly, continuing to walk towards where the other stood. They shifted under his gaze.

"I never said we would harm you, just take action."

"And do what? Form a blockade?"

The bat soldier shuffled on their feet, Feitan noticing that they really weren't meant for standing, but they seemed confident in not backing down or letting that take advantage of their situation.

"We would kill you." they said, and the cavern went silent, a slight wind rustling everyone's clothes from the pit below. Kurapika had stopped only a few feet from the soldier, looking them in the face as they did the same, both trying to gauge the other.

"Are you in charge here?"

"No."

"Then who is?"

"Father is."

Feitan raised an eyebrow at the remark. People nowadays sure did have a lot of daddy issues.

"I'm sure." was all Kurapika responded with, and within the next moment the bat soldier's head was cut clean off and his batons were out. "Anyone else want to stop us?"

The body of the demon fell down to the bottomless pit along with its head, a murmur from the caves around the cavern began to grow.

"Look what they did."

"They killed sister."

"She's dead."

"Intruders only destroy."

"She's gone forever."

"Sister can't come back.

"Kill the trespassers."

Feitan had to remind himself to stay on guard, but with all the increasing muttering of having them killed, it was kind of hard not to get on the defense. That's when a shriek came from the top of the cavern, a few other bat soldiers swooping down towards Kurapika with claws extended.

He was too late in reacting, but his brother wasn't. Chrollo was instantly by Kurapika's side, having already slashed down one demon with his knife, Kurapika taking out another. Phinks and Machi were almost to them, Phinks only able to do one or two wind ups before another soldier would be in his presence, and Machi was doing what she could to back him up with her thread. Franklin wasn't really close by but did his best to try and shoot at the flying soldiers as accurately as possible.

The other troupe members had to begin turning around and fighting, the other soldiers, lizard and other creatures alike, crawling or jumping off of the cave walls and landing on the path and blocking off their only exit.

Nobunaga, Shizuku, and Uvogin were on the front lines, Shizuku swinging Blinky awkwardly but with an odd precision to it, and Nobunaga covering her blind spots when he could, and Uvogin just beating the hell out of anything that wasn't a friend. Shalnark was busy trying to pick a new soldier he wanted while Pakunoda and Bonolenov fought any creature that came too close to Shalnark or Kortopi. Feitan didn't have much time to think about anything else going on when a bull horned soldier attacked him, causing him to almost back up into Phinks and Machi's space. He cursed, slicing the thing down before he ducked past one of Machi's threads to get to his brother. He had to fight a few more odd looking soldiers that he couldn't identify as anything animal, but he was so close to reaching Kurapika and Chrollo when it happened.

A raven winged demon had knocked Kurapika off balance near the edge of the path, causing him to reach out towards the person nearest to him, Chrollo.

To Feitan, the rest of it went down in slow motion. Chrollo was unable to stop Kurapika's fall, and was dragged down with him, and both of them fell off of the rock bridge and down into the bottomless pit as the demon soldiers laughed.

They were gone.


	28. Chapter 28

_Ey guys! Long time no see! Did you enjoy that last cliffhanger? Well, anyway, I'm back! And with more chapters to throw at you! I know this is a short chapter, but I promise, the other chapters will help makeup for it. Anyway, I'm glad to be back and on schedule again._

* * *

Kurapika didn't know how long they were falling, just that it seemed like forever. The rest of the soldiers above them seemed to have ignored them in favor of the rest of the troupe, letting them figure out what they needed to do in as much peace as one could muster when falling to their death.

He still had one hand full of Chrollo's jacket, and Chrollo in turn had taken ahold of his shirt sleeve, but now they were looking at each other as if the other had the answer of how to stop falling. Kurapika looked away first, opting to finally gaze at the bottomless pit they were entering, the light barely reaching where they were now. Then he spotted what he thought was a ledge, and without warning, he swung Chrollo over to it only to have his arm yanked at painfully when it was indeed a ledge and that Chrollo had stunted their fall abruptly. The other man muttered a curse under his breath before grunting as he tried to get up, but Kurapika was a little dazed and didn't realize he was trying to help him up until he felt another hand grappling at his back.

"Oh, sorry." was all he said before he offered up his other arm, Chrollo took it and dragging himself up onto the ledge with him.

Kurapika grunted a thanks before he turned and stared back up at where the troupe was, and a few bodies falling from where the battle was taking place, but none of them were recognizable. He looked back down the black expanse, only now noticing how eerily quiet it was. He didn't like it.

After taking one more glance up he turned around, looking at Chrollo and then the cave that was behind them.

"Do you think it leads to where we need to go?" Kurapika asked idly, not really caring either way if it did or not. It was probably just going to lead them to more trouble.

"Who knows, but it's our only option now." Chrollo shrugged, and Kurapika was surprised to find himself thinking that the movement was alluring. Maybe he had been in the cave too long.

"It is." he commented distractedly, walking forward first into the cave, not wanting to ponder his new thoughts. He heard Chrollo follow suit, and then they were in the darkness again.


	29. Chapter 29

_I'm really tired right now, even though I'm trying to convince myself I'm not. It's working very well._

* * *

It didn't take long for the rest of the troupe to finish the battle after either hearing or seeing the news that both Kurapika and Chrollo had fallen off the ledge. By the time the fighting was over, a few of them had tear streaked faces, but it was covered by blood and grime by that point.

"Are you sure? Feitan, are you positive you saw them fall?" Machi asked, more panicked than Shalnark had ever witnessed her to be.

"Yes, I did. Now please, stop. We have to keep moving now." the transmuter responded monotonously, looking dazed. "We can't find them if we stay here."

"You think there's a chance they're alive?" asked Phinks to Shalnark's left, who had been actively crying during the battle and now had some real time to sit down and do it. "What makes you say that?"

"I don't know, they just… can't be dead."

Shalnark agreed with that. They _couldn't_ be dead. At this point, he wasn't really all too afraid that Kurapika was with Chrollo, just the fact that they were in enemy territory and lost in it. Shalnark went over to where Feitan had said they fell, looking over the edge carefully to look at the cavern walls below.

"Hey, Fei. I can't really tell from here, but what does that look like to you?" Shalnark said, pointing at some part of the cave. Feitan walked over and squinted at it, his eyes opening a bit in realization when he saw what he was directing him towards.

"A ledge."

"Did they fall enough to where they could've hit it?"

"It's possible…"

"Then there is a 50% they're not dead!" Shalnark said, though his mind immediately critiqued him saying that _no, that is not 50%, more like .03% if you account the whole cavern itself, but on that half that they fell in it would be 6%, but okay loser_.

"That could be true…" Machi said, putting a hand thoughtfully to her chin. "Even though my hunch said that we would get separated somehow, nothing indicated that it'd be bad."

"Wait, you knew this would happen?" Nobunaga asked incredulously, walking forward. "Why didn't you tell anyone? Especially with-"

"I didn't tell anyone because I figured we'd all needlessly try to prevent it." Machi said harshly, but Shalnark could tell she didn't stop the other sentence quick enough.

"'Especially with' what?" Pakunoda asked, crossing her arms. She looked between Nobunaga and Machi, the other woman dropping her gaze immediately when met with the eyes of Pakunoda. Shalnark took this as his cue to get out of there.

"Hey Uvogin, I need to go make an important call before we get any further in this cave, and it'd be cool if you could cover me just in case we need to fight."

"Sure thing Shal." Uvogin smiled, probably taking what he said at face value. What a trusting guy.

They started walking back from where they came from, the feeling of eyes on their back until Nobunaga spoke up.

"So, we have something to tell you guys…"

Within a few more feet the noise from the cavern was cancelled out, and the water drips in the distance replaced their voices, their steps echoing on the rock floor.

"We're gonna have to meet up with them again a lot later, you know that right?" Shalnark asked to the broader man beside him, who nudged him gently in the shoulder.

"Of course I know! If I hadn't, I wouldn't have agreed! Besides, you and I both know that the cell phone reception is terrible in here."

Shalnark laughed. It was true. They probably could've gone in further and gotten connection when hitting the base, but he needed this conversation to be as private as possible.

They arrived at the subway area quicker than Shalnark had predicted, and he ran up the steps to the fresh air of the city, spreading his arms out.

"Isn't this great? You'll probably get a tan before we go back, don't you think?"

Uvogin walked passed him, rolling his eyes.

"I'm already dark enough, you're the one that needs it."

"That's true!" he said, walking behind him as they turned the corner. The hotel they had done their heist on was surrounded by police tape and a few officers who were on guard, but seemed to just be lazily standing around and some were even bunched together and talking. Shalnark did a low whistle at the damage they had done though, the whole front littered in shattered glass and broken items, but no blood or bodies to be found. It was probably a huge mystery to the police.

"Hey Shal, you said you needed to get that call right? You know how long it takes for them to respond as soon as possible, so you should probably do that now."

"Of course." Shalnark said, turning away from the scene smiling as he pulled out his phone, dialing a number he knew by heart at this point. A few rings and a voice picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hey Berry!" Shalnark said cheerily at hearing the older woman's voice. "I have a request for you."


	30. Chapter 30

_Hey! You guys remember Berry and Nobuhide, right?_

 _..._

 _guys?_

* * *

Berry swore she loved Shalnark and Kurapika like her own children, but sometimes they were a little much.

"You want me to do _what_ now?"

"Come on Berry, we're up against some big bad evil right now!"

"The only big bad evil I know of is the people who killed your clan." Berry said in a huff, turning around to see that Nobuhide was listening in on their conversation. She stuck out her tongue at him and walked away, causing him to chuckle.

"Berry, they _are_ the people that killed our family."

The older woman stopped in her tracks, and she was sure she was as pale as a ghost.

"I thought you took them out."

"We did, but these guys are just the remaining forces left over. We're not sure who is in charge, but it seems like they have 'Father' or whatever."

She stayed silent for a while, her mind frozen. She came back when Shalnark called her name again.

"Sorry, just kind of, uh…" she swallowed thickly. She was sure Nobuhide noticed something was wrong by now. "I'll see what I can do." she said finally, and she could almost hear the frown in Shalnark's voice.

"Hey, Aunt Berry, are you okay?"

She resisted the urge to cry at being called an aunt. She didn't need so many feelings right now. She had long since tried forgetting that her brother and his wife had died from such an incident and for such a terrible reason, and hearing Shalnark use the familial nickname she had received from Kurapika when he was younger made her have an overload of emotions.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You get back to Kurapika now, I gotta get ready."

"About that… actually, never mind. Chrollo is with him right now, so I'm sure he's fine."

"Oh, the lad that Nobuhide sent to you guys? Said he had a special interest in Kura right?"

"Er, well, we have yet to see that, but it's possible. Anything is possible though, but if he dares to make a move in front of any of us…"

"Don't chase the poor man away!" Berry exclaimed, giving an exasperated expression to the wall next to her. "This could be someone that might not be scared by who Kurapika is and you think of trying to protect the boy!"

"But-"

"Listen Shal, when will you let him grow up? He's killed people and stolen national treasures and yet you don't think he's ready for romance?"

"But what if he doesn't like him back? What if his heart gets broken because of it?"

"If he doesn't like him back that's Chrollo's problem, but if Chrollo breaks his heart, that's my problem." she huffed into the phone, and she heard deep laughter at the other end of the line, and Shalnark shushing them. "What I'm trying to say is, you can advise Kurapika all you want, but just give it a chance to happen. Who knows what could happen with it? I don't, and neither do you. So just let fate take it's course, because it's not going to stop for anyone."

"You make a good point."

"I know I do."

"Pfft," Shalnark stifled a laugh of his own before coughing and clearing his throat. "Alright, well anytime would be convenient, but sooner than later would be fantastic."

"I know I know, just let me go already." she laughed, turning around to look back at the cars she had just finished taking apart to Nobuhide's dismay. "Oh, and one more thing. They got some weird technology going on with just their cars, so if they have any guns or something, avoid them until you know what they do."

"Alright, roger! Bye-bye Berry!"

"Goodbye Shal." she said, sighing when she hung the phone up.

"You just scolded a grown man about love." Nobuhide chuckled when she returned, sitting on the floor with some tea. "Not that I mind though. A lot of them haven't even thought about it. Too worried over Kurapika or about dragging someone else into their lives."

"They're like sheltered brats." Berry commented, rolling her eyes when Nobuhide almost did a spit take.

"They do illegal stuff all the time, for fun! That's not sheltered at all!"

"Nobuhide, you know what I mean."

"That I do."

A comfortable silence passed between them before Berry got herself some hot tea, adding a bunch of sugar to it as she spoke.

"We have a new mission from Shal."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Seems like they're in trouble, need some actual adults to help."

"I think we'd count as more being elders at this point, but okay."

"That's true. But you know what this means right?" Berry asked, sipping out of her mug smugly. Nobuhide smiled.

"Hell yeah. It's time to get back into the action!"


	31. Chapter 31

_You guys are getting a lot of chapters today! I haven't figured out which cliffhanger I won't to stop at, but I'll find one eventually~_

* * *

It had been what seemed like hours before Chrollo and Kurapika had finally reached a section in which natural light flooded through cracks in the ceiling, the dusty atmosphere letting the light make diagonal slashes in the air as the passed through.

Chrollo took the chance to glance over at the blonde beside him, trying to figure out what he might be thinking. Chrollo noticed for the fifteenth time the red earring hanging on the other's ear, and he tried to not remember that the ruby dangling was the same color as the scarlet eyes the blonde possessed. No matter how many times he tried to not think of it, he always did, and he always felt guilty about it. Knowing the full story now, he felt that his initial revenge was misplaced, and that his family was in the wrong. No, his _abductor's_ family. He sighed. It was going to take a while to adjust his vocabulary to not calling Abaddon Mammon his family.

Kurapika tilted his head back to look at Chrollo curiously.

"What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

"No, not that I can tell."

"I see."

Kurapika turned his attention back in front of him, and Chrollo hoped he was the only one who felt the awkwardness that closed the gap between them. Thankfully Kurapika broke the silence rather quickly, giving Chrollo something else to think about other than… well, nothing.

"Sorry for not warning you about earlier, when I swung you over to the ledge." Kurapika said, looking back at Chrollo a bit to make eye contact with him. Chrollo felt himself shaking his head.

"Don't be. It's not like we had much time to have a full length discussion on who wanted to take the brunt impact of belly flopping onto a piece of rock." Chrollo half joked, making Kurapika turn around.

"So you are hurt!" Kurapika accused with a pointing finger, Chrollo making a surprised face at his outburst.

" _Was_ hurt, but I didn't mention it because it wasn't important." he said, stopping in his tracks so as to not run into the blonde in front of him.

"If you're hurt, you can't fight properly! I know you haven't activated your _nen_ yet, and if you continue with that trend you'll get killed for sure!"

"Says the one who also hasn't been using their _nen_ this whole time." Chrollo threw back, raising an eyebrow at him. "Plus who do you think you are scolding someone on how to fight when I have more experience than you?"

"Oh come on, you can't be that much older." Kurapika rolled his eyes subtly, but Chrollo saw it. He would call him out for being childish, but then again, he wasn't acting much better himself currently.

"Try a nine year age difference." Chrollo muttered, but the Phantom Troupe leader heard him anyway.

"You're kidding!" Kurapika exclaimed almost comically, but he could hear some sarcasm in it. He looked at Chrollo again in surprise, but this time scanning him up and down multiple times before smirking. "Actually, nevermind. It explains your tacky outfit."

"I'll have you know that I made this myself." Chrollo informed him, swatting at the grinning blonde playfully. "Honestly, does the troupe let you get away with insulting them this way?"

"For the most part, yes." Kurapika said, smiling at him and _oh God why did that look cute?_ Chrollo shook his head in a disapproving way.

"They let you get away with too much."

"They do." Kurapika agree, though paused before shaking his head. "Well, not all the time. They're a little overprotective when it comes to me doing stuff on my own or interacting with others."

Chrollo gave him an odd look.

"Well I would be to if I had to look after you. Probably would've fallen to your death had I not been there."

"We almost did." Kurapika shot him a look, though looked away as soon as he did, his hair covering his face with the action. "Nevermind that, I have a question for you."

"And what would that be Your Highness?" Chrollo asked teasingly, earning him a glare that, honestly, should _not_ have been as adorable as it was.

"You mentioned your fiancé when we first met and you seemed angry about her death. You said you didn't care for her, so why would you be mad over her passing?" Kurapika asked, trying to seem nonchalant about it, though he seemed eager to know nonetheless. Chrollo wanted to ignore the question altogether just to make the blonde annoyed, but ultimately decided against it. It'd be beneficial to have him in a good mood.

"That's something I didn't understand for a while myself, but when I visited Nobuhide I seemed to figure out why." Chrollo sighed, looking up at the cave ceiling above them. "When you guys attacked, she was younger than you were at the time I believe, and I felt that her life had gone to waste."

"How so?" Kurapika asked, a bit of annoyance in his voice.

"She was young enough to where she might've improved with the right people to help. She could've been spared-"

"You can't fix people like that." Kurapika said with anger, though Chrollo didn't know where it could source from. "She already had a hobby of collecting body parts, that's not something that just stops. It's something that continues over a lifetime, and those people are always very hard to deal with."

Chrollo gave him a look of sympathy, now understanding where his anger was centered from, though the blonde didn't see it. They walked further ahead into the cave, both silent and back in their own thoughts. It seemed uncomfortable, but not enough to bother Chrollo. He still felt like there was something bothering the blonde, and the more he kept thinking back on what other questions he could possibly have, he finally thought of one.

"When I was talking about the energy in the syringe, back when I had to tell you all that I knew on the enemy, you seemed to react negatively to that. Why?"

Kurapika stopped again, sighing when he did.

"It… has to do with something I didn't even tell Nobuhide." he began, turning around to lean sideways on the cave wall to look at Chrollo. "When I was taken into the car, Nobuhide had responded immediately, and so the car was under attack instantly, causing the men inside to panic. They pulled out one of the syringes and…" Kurapika looked away and towards the other cave wall, a frown tugging at his lips. "I thought it was a weapon, so I tried to prevent them from using it, resulting in me getting stabbed in the eye with it."

Chrollo's eyes widened.

"Which one?" he asked quietly, though he felt that the question may be too sensitive, especially since he'd never brought it up to people before. Thankfully the blonde responded to it without any offense taken.

"My right one." Kurapika said, touching at his eyelid over the one he specified idly. "I wanted to ask you about it earlier but it had slipped my mind… You said that if it wasn't used completely, that it would increase exponentially right?"

"I did." Chrollo said, swallowing. He didn't like where this conversation was going.

"So what if I didn't activate my eyes, or my _nen_ for that matter, until a year before the Kurta clan massacre?"

Chrollo felt shocked by how long he had gone without using _nen_ , and with so much building up in his eye, it could have possibly killed him had he waited any longer.

"Well, it'd take a very long time to remove, probably a decade or so of continuous use." he estimated, trying to not make it seem as bad as it was. Kurapika nodded understandingly, as if he knew it wouldn't be easy.

"I see. Thank you for answering that." the blonde said before pushing himself off the wall, flipping his phone out and reading something on it. "We should probably head farther through this cave before we settle down for the day. It's almost afternoon on the surface."

Chrollo nodded, kind of wishing he could figure out a way to help Kurapika, yet some part of him told him they had an advantage that Kurapika had so much nen stored up in his eye. He didn't want to think that way, not when he knew that immense pain came from using the energy for an extended period of time. Maybe it was all in his head, but he didn't think the situation was going to end well.

They began to walk again, Chrollo deciding that the depressing air that had surrounded them needed to be replaced with a better attitude.

"My clothes are not tacky."

"Then what's with the fake fur?"

"It's called fashion." Chrollo said smugly, giving the blonde a grin. "You should try it some time."

"Hey!" Kurapika exclaimed, swatting at him with his hand, but smiling nonetheless.

They bickered back and forth about varying topics after that, Chrollo enjoying every second of it.


	32. Chapter 32

_While I'm going on my chapter binge, I'd like to remind you that all the reviews I've been getting have been greatly appreciated! I'm so glad so many people like this AU, and it makes me happy to see you guys talking about it!_

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"I can't believe we didn't see it before though." Phinks said disbelievingly at what Nobunaga and Machi had just told the rest of the troupe. "And you're sure Nobuhide is the one who started this?"

Machi rolled her eyes at the question. Here they go again.

"Well it's not like he's one to start rumors. He just thought it was something that we should know might happen." Nobunaga said, trying to smooth over everyone's concern for the knowledge they all possessed now.

"Why did you guys wait to tell us?" Pakunoda asked, directing her gaze at Machi. "Did you think we would not have been able to handle the information beforehand?"

"Not at all." Machi said, trying to seem at ease with the whole situation. "We simply decided that if it did actually become an issue, we'd let you all know, but since they're both gone, now is a better time than never."

Pakunoda raised an eyebrow but said no more, sweeping her gaze over the rest of the troupe.

"And are we to wait till Shalnark and Uvogin come back to let them know as well or-"

"They already know." Nobunaga said, scratching the back of his neck. "And no, they can catch up to us. Right now we just have to continue on in hopes of encountering Kurapika again."

Everyone seemed to agree with that, most of them gathering themselves up and dusting at their clothes as best as they could.

"Machi, have any hunches on this plan?" Pakunoda asked, touching her shoulders lightly. Machi shook her head.

"Not yet. I'll let you know when I do though."

"Okay." the taller woman smiled, making Machi feel her face burn up from it. She closed her eye and turned away, looking ahead at the tunnel at the end of the bridge.

"When we meet Kurapika again, do you think they'll be okay?"

Pakunoda hummed, her smile falling into an expression of thought.

"I would say yes, but you never know. There could be more demons where they went."

"Yeah, that's true." Machi said, looking back at the troupe who were already gathering together and looking at each other to see who would temporarily take charge.

Pakunoda nudged her with an elbow, and Machi gave a disgusted look. She didn't want to be leader. It didn't feel right taking that position, even if she knew she'd make a good one. It just didn't feel like her place to be there. Pakunoda chuckled at her expression like she knew that'd be Machi's response.

"We'll go through the tunnel and defeat anything that attacks us." Machi heard someone say, turning around to see Feitan walking to the front of the troupe as he continued. "If any of those demons say anything about Kurapika or Chrollo, take it as serious information until we can disprove it. Our first priority is to finish this mission though, make no mistake about that. But their safety will be top priority if we encounter them. Understood?"

It didn't take long for the rest of the troupe members to pick up on who was taking charge, the rest of them nodding or voicing their consent to what Feitan had said. Machi gave a silent sigh of relief that she hadn't been pushed into the position.

When Feitan got the majority of everyone's support, they started walking forward towards the other tunnel, Machi and Pakunoda near the front and right behind Feitan, the rest of the troupe starting to talk about more comfortable conversations. Before they entered the cave, Pakunoda nudged Machi with an elbow again, the pink haired women giving an annoyed glare at the other.

"What?"

"Relax. Everything will be fine. They're safe right now."

Machi scoffed.

"How do you know?"

"Hmm, you can call it a hunch." Pakunoda said smiling, and Machi couldn't help but smile herself, though she hid it by looking away.

"Fine. But if something goes wrong before we find them, I'm blaming you."

"Fine by me." the taller woman chuckled, placing a hand on the other's shoulder. "But if I win, you owe me a date, okay?"

Machi would've given her a disbelieving look had she been able to see her, but since they had entered the cave, she could only see a faint outline of her figure. She wanted to say no, but given that she just needed something to make her feel better about everything going on, she sighed in defeat at the proposal.

"Fine. It's a deal."


	33. Chapter 33

_Alright, last chapter of today's update! I hope you guys enjoy it!_

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It had grown colder as they walked through the cave, and Kurapika was really starting to regret not bringing a jacket or something else to keep him warm. He took a glance at Chrollo's back ahead of him, who had gone silent a few hours ago. The dark haired man had insisted they kept walking even though they needed some sleep, but he had claimed that being trapped in a cave would've left them at a disadvantage. Kurapika originally agreed with the thought, but their current placement was much worse than the cave they had exited a few minutes prior.

The path lead slowly around a huge wall curving inwards to the right, while on its other side there was drop off straight into another black abyss. Not only that, but it was colder in this area, a constant wind throwing their clothes around lightly as they walked on the path, staying as close as they could to the wall.

Kurapika resisted the urge to check his phone, sure that if he looked at it he would just give himself another reason to be tired. He activated his eyes again for the umpteenth time since he and Chrollo had talked about the energy in his right eye. It still hurt, yes, but he liked to think he was starting to gain a pain tolerance to it. He tried to push his _nen_ a bit further but the pain caused him to wince, Chrollo turning around at the noise. Upon seeing what Kurapika was doing he looked like he was about to sigh but didn't, instead giving over a disappointed stare.

"Stop that."

"Why?"

"Because it's hurting you. It's not going to go away anytime soon, so give it a rest. You'll wear yourself out before we even encounter another enemy."

Kurapika puffed out his cheeks but couldn't think of a sufficient way to answer or to reverse it back around at Chrollo, so he turned away to look out at the steep drop to their left.

"Your stubborn attitude isn't going to help you right now." Chrollo said, though Kurapika continued to pretend like he was ignoring him, studying the rocky mass parallel to their position, just across the abyss. "In fact, if we meet up with the other's soon, don't you think they'll question why you're so tired?"

"It's because of you." Kurapika said sharply, looking back at Chrollo, only to realize his mistake in not completing his sentence and that _wow, his face had not been that handsome a few hours ago._

"What have I done to you?" Chrollo asked, folding his arms across his chest. Kurapika pursed his lips in thought.

"Being yourself." Kurapika answered, as if that was a sufficient answer. When Chrollo gave him a look of doubt he continued. "Everything you say makes sense but it's hard to keep up with you. My mind just doesn't work with you and it's frustrating!"

"And you're blaming that on me? Plus, we had plenty of intelligent conversations after we settled on the fact that fashion sense didn't matter if the whole universe was inevitably going to collapse in on itself. It sounds like you're just looking for something to complain about now." Chrollo pointed out, but Kurapika shook his head.

"No no, what I'm talking about is different! I mean like, with normal things!"

"So if I asked what your favorite ice cream flavor was you wouldn't be able to answer me?"

"I can't decide that on a normal basis." Kurapika deadpanned, though he himself was becoming unsure of what he meant. "You know what, nevermind. I think what I need is sleep."

"That's a possibility. Remind me in the future to not keep you up past your bedtime." the dark haired man said, though the comment held no malice in it. Kurapika would have made a snarky comment had he not started thinking back to his own words when he had first come back to the Phantom Troupe after meeting Chrollo for the first time.

 _"Perhaps. He's interesting,"_ Kurapika had mused, looking off somewhere in the distance to avoid looking at anyone in the troupe. _"_ _and certainly has the potential to be one of the strongest people in the troupe. In addition, you might say I was oddly attracted to him."_

 _"What?"_ Shalnark had asked incredulously, getting Kurapika to turn to him during the time. _"B- Kurapika, aren't you a little too young to be thinking about something like that?"_

Kurapika remembered blinking and raising an eyebrow at his cousin, and saying _"Shal, I'm about to turn eighteen. And besides, I said I'm attracted to him, not in love with him. After what he did to Uvogin, I'm simply curious as to what else he has in store, and therefor drawn by the mystery that surrounds him."_

He stood where he was, paralyzed by his memories, wondering if what he had said still stood true. Sure he was still interested in Chrollo, but the reason had changed, and he knew it. It was no longer just trying to figure out the mystery that was Chrollo Lucilfer, but wanting to be there to witness all he had to offer, even if it was something as mundane as sharing his favorite classical pieces... which they actually had discussed earlier. He cursed himself. He still wanted to know more about him, but not an ally, or a friend, or a… whatever he was to him, if there was even a name for it.

"Kurapika, are you coming?" Chrollo asked, tilting his head slightly to make eye contact with the blonde, the action making Kurapika's heart race for a reason he didn't understand.

"...yeah." Kurapika answered distractedly, walking after him as they went along the path yet again.

He watched Chrollo's back for a while, staring at it longer than he really thought was polite, the silence deafening as they continued forward. His eyes had long become accustomed to looking at it, but he never got tired of gazing at the gold cross detailed on the back of the black jacket, the little light that he could see with reflecting off of it with a purple sheen that he found fitting to the man wearing it. Even the fur that edged the fabric gave off a heavenly glow in the low light, almost giving Chrollo the image of having a halo. Kurapika secretly laughed at the irony of it.

A few more steps forward and Kurapika was back to pondering on the words he had said from a few days ago, hoping to figure out what was going on with his mind concerning Chrollo. _"I was oddly attracted to him"_ sounded so cliché, yet he had said it, getting a reaction from the troupe that he hadn't expected. Did it mean something? Was it so odd to be attracted to someone? Or was it the problem that he had never said something of that nature about someone else?

He shook his head. He felt like the solution was right there, right in front of him but he just couldn't reach it. He had felt this for a while, felt it since he _met_ him, but what was it?

He had to figure out what he thought now, or else it'd probably distract him during battle if he didn't. Badly enough to where he couldn't fight properly. He didn't want that.

Kurapika thought of consulting Chrollo, since he thought that maybe he would know as an outsider to the mixture of emotions storming inside of him and pinpoint the feeling, but he felt that he had something to risk in asking, so he stayed silent. He had to think outside of the box, step away from himself to see what was really going on, what was it that he felt in his heart… Wait, heart? ...was that right? Maybe he... oh… oh no…

He tried to shake the new thought from his head, because he _knew_ that wasn't right. Well, he didn't _want_ it to be right was the actual reason, but to think that's what it was… He had to confirm it though. He had tried thinking outside of the box and if this is where it got him, then so be it, he just couldn't believe he had been so blind...

He looked up from his thoughts, staring at the back of Chrollo's head intensely, the black hair the older man had slicked back when they had departed starting to fall loose. He felt his hand reach over and grab at one of Chrollo's sleeves, causing the older man to turn yet again and give Kurapika a questioning look, and the blonde felt like he was seeing him in a new light.

The cross on his forehead that he always pretended that he didn't have now seemed oddly fitting, the hair falling into his face cropped it's frame, accentuating his high cheek bones, eyes sparkling a stunning silver despite the poor lighting, and his mouth…

He felt the heat rising in his cheeks and his head became light as he began to understand what was going on. He saw Chrollo's face become concerned as he began to ask what was wrong, but none of the words went through to him, only one thought going through his mind as he stared ahead absently: _I have a crush on Chrollo Lucilfer._


	34. Chapter 34

_Alright so, I have a flight to catch tomorrow morning, and honestly I don't know what time I'm gonna get back at, SO I have decided to post the next day's chapters slightly early!_

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Chrollo was worried for Kurapika ever since he had turn an interesting shade of red, making him insist to walk in front of him because _"What if you faint and I can't stop you from falling off the ledge? The troupe would kill me if they found out that your fate was so simple!"_

Oddly enough the blonde had complied to his request easily, seeming to be in a daze when he did so. Chrollo was glad he didn't have to exert a lot of energy to get him to do so, but even his agreeable attitude was worrisome.

"Kurapika, are you sure you're fine?" he asked again, just to make sure, and the blonde in front of him nodded, but made no sound.

He wanted to sigh, but didn't, knowing that it wouldn't do him anything if he did. That's when he heard a noise up ahead, making him grab Kurapika's shoulder to stop him.

"What are you-"

"Shh." he said, nodding ahead to indicate to listen, and that seemed to snap Kurapika out of his daze, his head turning sharply to the path up ahead as the saw a few demons walking towards them, seeming to be on patrol.

"So they said that they fell, but how far down do you think?" one asked, his feathered wings flitting as he looked over the edge.

"They didn't say, they just said we had to search for them- oh shit." the other demon cursed, his cat ears and tail flicking as he caught a glimpse of Kurapika and Chrollo staring at them.

All four of them stood standing there until a centaur demon behind them walked up with a bow in his hand, a quiver strapped around his waist, and… no way, it couldn't be…

"What are you two doing standing… oh my, Father won't like the sound of this." the new demon said, placing a hand on his hip as the other two demons looked back at him.

"Lord Leraje, what do we do?" the cat one asked, seeming unsure as of what to do.

Leraje seemed to think for a moment, gazing at Chrollo steadily as he made up his mind.

"Kill them. I'm going to go report that they had survived the fall." he said, turning to leave until Chrollo called out to him.

"Leraje? You mean Leraje Mammon, right?" Chrollo stepped forward and around Kurapika, noticing slightly that it looked like he might be protecting him, but he didn't care. He could do that and confront his brother at the same time.

"Yes, it is… how would you…" Leraje squinted at Chrollo moving his hand above his eyes and tilting his head until recognition spread across his face. He looked like he had been slapped in the face before he gave an uneven, deadly grin.

"My my, welcome back from the dead brother. We thought we lost you. Seems like you changed a lot though… we'll need to get experimentations ready… Change of plans. Remal, Orpheus, capture him, but kill the other." Leraje ordered, turning around, his tail swishing as he did. "I now have some good news for Father."

Chrollo wondered briefly if he was referring to Abaddon Mammon as "Father," but knew it'd had to be impossible. They were dead. But then how was Leraje standing in front of him…? He didn't have much time to ponder on anything else though, the ones Leraje had called Remal and Orpheus beginning their attacks on them simultaneously.

Chrollo attempted a swipe at the Orpheus one with his Benz knife, who dodged quickly and tried to slices at his arm with his dagger in return, Chrollo only getting nicked by only a hair.

Remal tried to go past them but Chrollo made a move to stabbing them, making the demon jump off of the path and spread his wings as a gust of wind drifted from the abyss, letting him guide himself behind Chrollo and be free to attack Kurapika. He cursed at himself but turned his attention to Orpheus. He was sure Kurapika could handle himself, even in a deterred state. He wouldn't be the Phantom Troupe leader if he couldn't.

They fought like that, back to back for a while before Kurapika had driven Remal to the edge of the path again, making him glide back over to his pal, letting them all take a quick breather between their exchanges.

"Kurapika, are you alright?" Chrollo asked under his breath, sparing a glance down to check on the blonde.

"Yeah…" Kurapika responded, face flushed and avoiding eye contact with Chrollo. "And you…?" he glanced over a bit before turning his attention back to their enemies, his face more red than before. Chrollo was probably going to have to address that soon.

"I'm good." was all he could get out before the two demons decided to attack again, both going towards Kurapika.

 _Typical_ , Chrollo thought as he managed to stop Orpheus again, but the cat demon seemed pleased that he did. Then he heard a smothered scream behind him, recognizing it as Kurapika's immediately. He activated his _nen_ and stabbed Orpheus roughly in the chest, catching the soldier by surprise as their body became still as soon as Chrollo took it out of them. He turned to see Kurapika on the ground, his thigh bleeding heavily as he threw a chain around Remal's wing, making the bird demon drop off the side of the path. The demon was swung down into the cliff wall, knocking them unconscious, the chain disappearing and letting the demon drop into the blackness below, no sound of their landing evident as Chrollo ran over to Kurapika's side.

"Kurapika!"

"I'm alright, just calm down…" he said, pushing himself up only to wince at the pain in his leg, his eyes a bright red glowing still. "I can heal it, just let me…" he raised his right hand only to have the chains flicker in and out of view as his hand went to his eye, and Chrollo felt like telling him "I told you so." but deemed it inappropriate given the time.

"You used up a lot of your energy, rest for now. I'll find a place for us to hide before they come and look for us.

He only got a tired nod before he had gone to dispose of Orpheus's body over the ledge, then searching the wall to the right to see if there was anyway another path could be made from it. After finding a small hole, he used a little bit of _nen_ on it before a small cave was revealed behind it, Chrollo approving of it instantly. _It could've be worse_ , he thought to himself as he made his back over to Kurapika's body. _You could have ended up sleeping on the path and risking the chance of rolling off the path and into the abyss in your sleep._

When Chrollo made his way back over, he found that Kurapika had passed out and was sleeping peacefully, despite the condition his body was in. After quickly arguing with himself if it was alright to even pick him up, he made up his mind and carefully held the Kurta by the back of his shoulders and knees, hoping that it didn't cause the Phantom Troupe leader any pain in his slumber.

He took Kurapika over quickly into the cave, placing him down near the back and going back to the the entrance and sealing it off, hoping that from the outside it didn't look too obvious. He turned and looked at Kurapika, trying not to think about how creepy this could possibly look from an outsider's view. Taking an unconscious younger man into a cave and seemingly closing it off to only leave them two alone? Yeah, seemed pretty bad. There was no way he'd be able to let the troupe know about this without explaining in large detail about how _no, I didn't have a choice in this matter and yes, our lives were in danger, thank you very much._

He sighed, going over and sitting next to the blonde, watching the other's chest rising and falling with the shallow breaths he made in his sleep. He noticed that Kurapika's phone had slipped out of his pocket, and Chrollo reached for it, looking at the bright screen with squinted eyes until they adjusted to the light. What he saw was a picture of what he assumed was a young Kurapika and two adults behind him, smiling proudly as the young Kurta waved his hands at the camera excitedly. Chrollo felt himself smile at it, despite not really knowing why. He looked at the time, and almost laughed at how late it had gotten. He closed the phone and slipped down to lie on his side, facing Kurapika as he eventually succumbed to sleep, thoughts of what he and Kurapika had talked about during their time in the cave still lingering happily in his mind.


	35. Chapter 35

_Now that I think about it... this may be my second to last update... how sad, yet so happy..._

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Trumpets and fanfares played ahead of them, alerting them to a large group of demons coming from the end of the expanded cave they had entered, at the head of the army a demon with tusks coming from behind his ears walking in like he owned the place.

"Hello Phantom Troupe, it seems as if you've lost a few people on the way here!" he cried cheerily, though Feitan didn't respond in the way he knew they wanted him to.

"And I see that you've lost quite a lot of brothers and sisters. Soon enough you won't have any at all." Feitan chided, gaining a glare from the leader.

"You sure are sharp with your tongue shorty. But that's alright, you just don't know who you're in front of." he smiled, raising his arms in the air dramatically. "I am Beleth Mammon, responsible for eighty-five legions of demons!"

"It's gonna be zero by the time I'm through with them." Feitan spat, taking a step forward and summoning his umbrella forth, pointing it at Beleth gleefully. "And it seems like you're willing to bet that you'll keep them all, am I right?"

Beleth's smile didn't falter, but some of the demons behind him did, a few of them no longer cackling menacingly.

"Oh? My dear human, you have no idea. I am more than willing to bet that, in fact, I'm so sure of it, if you can defeat me here I'll gladly make it known that all of my legions are to be disbanded!"

"There will be no need for that," Feitan grinned, the Phantom Troupe already lining up beside him as he continued to talk. "They'll all be dead before we get to you. Think of it as mercy. They don't have to watch their leader die before them."

Beleth frowned angrily, pulling a sword from his hip as he took a few steps forward, some of his demons following him.

"You're on shorty."

"Good."

And then the chaos began.


	36. Chapter 36

_Also if any of you are annoyed by how varied in length my chapters are, don't worry, I too, am also annoyed at myself for how inconsistent I am with them._

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It took a few solid hours before the demons began to get weaker, mostly from the wariness of continuous fighting, but the troupe still stood strong, not having budged a single inch since the beginning of the battle. Feitan was battling Beleth in mid air, both of them flying off of the walls to impact in the center of the room, both of their swords ringing out as they clashed into each other.

Machi stood beside Pakunoda and Franklin, stringing up anyone who got too near to them and letting Phinks punch the living hell out of them. It was fun, she would admit to herself, getting to let out all of this steam, but some of the demons were indeed children, and she had to force herself to see them as just really short adults, like Feitan… okay maybe not so much like him but- oh whatever, she didn't care. As long as they weren't children who had struggled like her, trying desperately to live in a city where nothing belonged.

It continued like that for God knew how much longer before Feitan beheaded Beleth, his tusks snapping in half as he fell to the ground before the few demons that were left, causing them all to pause, some already starting to form groups out of defense necessities.

Feitan landed next to the body, glancing down at it and then the head, which had fallen a few feet away. He then looked up, taking in the rest of the demons there.

Machi released the two demons she had, both of them scrambling away from her and Phinks, who was glaring at them in all his eyebrowless intensity

She looked back to Feitan, who mumbled something like "too easy, way too easy" before looking up, directing his attention to the nearest demon, who had ram like horns on her head.

"You there. Do you know the way to your main leader?"

The demon trembled, pointing down where Beleth and his army had entered, and Feitan took that as his cue to leave, the troupe following after him, leaving the other demons in the expanded cave alone. When they were well into the cave, Machi went up close to Feitan, dropping her voice to talk to him.

"Wasn't Beleth Mammon the one I was assigned to assassinate during our retaliation run?"

"Yes. And you had confirmed your kill with Pakunoda, who was witnessed it, as well as her confirmed kill on Leraje."

Machi nodded, trying to make sense of it all.

"How did they come back from the dead?"

"Not our problem." Feitan answered, causing Machi to feel herself drift up and to the left, only to settle back into her body, making her clench her fists lightly. She thought it was just gonna be another odd hunch but this one was much, _much_ worse than she had thought.

She tried not to think too much on it, forcing herself to keep walking as she went back to being silent, falling to the back of the group so that she could let her tears fall freely from her face without judgement.

Someone from the Phantom Troupe was going to die.


	37. Chapter 37

_As I type out these author's notes, I keep getting sadder and sadder because I'm gonna miss you guys when I finish updating this ;w;_

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Kurapika awoke to a throbbing in his left thigh and the sensation of dry blood on his leg. He blinked awake, only to see Chrollo's face _way_ too close to his own, making him squeak and back up into the wall behind him, hitting his head as he did, pulling a strangled groan from his throat. That seemed enough to get Chrollo to awaken, the larger man pushing himself up carefully and rubbing at his eyes, then noticing that Kurapika's leg was still injured and made eye contact with him as if asking silently if he was okay.

Kurapika flushed and waved his concern away, summoning his chains. Oh, well, he _wanted_ _to_ , but they didn't come. He tried again, but nothing happened, causing him to furrow his eyebrows.

"What's wrong?" Chrollo asked, concern in his voice. It made Kurapika's stomach knot into funny shapes, and he couldn't say it didn't feel good, but that was not something he was going to give attention to right now.

"I can't summon my chains." he said, keeping his voice even. "Maybe I used too much of that energy? It could've possibly been the reason that I was able to use the ability beforehand so…" he trailed off, hoping the other would catch his drift. It seemed he did.

"It's alright. We can probably wait a little longer before heading out again." he said, handing over Kurapika his phone that the blonde took confusedly.

"Oh, sorry. It fell out of where you were keeping it and I held onto it for the night… who are the people in the background?" Chrollo asked, making Kurapika look up to see his eyes shining in curiosity. Kurapika bit his lip and looked down, looking at the screen as it lit up, showing him his mother and father with him when he was really young.

He turned the phone around the let Chrollo see it again, pointing to the brown haired man first.

"This man is my father, Eidos, and the woman next to him is my mother, Anahita." he explained, dragging his finger between his two parents. "And then that's me, at the age of four."

Chrollo nodded, taking in the information with interest, his jade orbed earrings twinkling dully as he tilted his head to get a better look at the picture. Kurapika wanted to stare at the other's face forever, but shook himself out of it, the screen going black as he brought it back to himself.

"It was a picture my mother left when Shal and I traveled to Meteor City." Kurapika explained, remembering how that was the first thing Shalnark had pulled out of his bag when he had started unpacking. He smiled at the memory, but forced it away. "We should probably go now though. If we have enough luck, we'll encounter the troupe on our way."

Chrollo seemed to hesitate, his eyes lingering too long, but he eventually nodded, helping Kurapika up when his leg gave him some trouble.

"Alright, but you have to promise to try to and keep yourself out of trouble. And stay behind me. I don't want you to get attacked just because you're up front."

Kurapika nodded, swallowing back some saliva when he noticed how close they were together. _It's okay, you can blame the concave walls. Nothing to it,_ his mind supplied, but he couldn't bring himself to make an excuse for himself when he looked up and met the taller man's gaze. Chrollo looked like he wanted to say something else until he himself realized how close they were, backing up a bit to give the Spider head room with a fierce blush flashing onto his face.

"My apologies, I didn't mean to stand so close-"

"No, it's fine! It's a tight fit anyway!" Kurapika amended, while his mind was running into hyperdrive.

 _Maybe he likes you back?_

 _No, impossible, he's just trying to be respectful._

 _Does 'respectful' mean looking like a cherry blossom in full bloom when they stand too close to you?_

 _Shut up, and that didn't even make sense._

 _That's what you'd like to think._

Chrollo walked past him carefully, avoiding to make any type of physical contact as he opened up the cave, letting more light filter in. Kurapika couldn't stop the thought of how beautiful Chrollo was, but he felt like he didn't need to. It was true, so there wasn't anything to deny to himself about. His mind chided at him with taunts of how infatuated he was, but he didn't care anymore.

Chrollo walked out and hesitated, before he offered a hand back to Kurapika, which the blonde took gratefully, having trouble even just stepping down one step to the pathway on his bad leg. After a few test steps, Kurapika was already panting heavily, the pain in his thigh increasing whenever he tried to move it. He felt some blood trickle down his leg and he knew the wound had reopened. He looked over to Chrollo, who seemed to debating what to do in his head.

Kurapika thought of all sorts of embarrassing things that could come from this situation, so he tried to offer the least mortifying one, in hopes that it'd actually work out.

"Maybe, if you supported me from the left, it won't be as bad?" Kurapika tried to suggest, though it came out awkwardly, and he tried to keep the heat in his face away as he waited for Chrollo's decision.

Eventually the dark haired man nodded, wrapping an arm around Kurapika's neck and onto his right shoulder, getting the blonde to do the opposite to him. They did a few test steps before they deemed it useable enough to get through the quickest.

For the rest of the way they made small talk, Kurapika not even caring what they talked about at that point, somehow glad for the sole fact that he was with Chrollo.


	38. Chapter 38

_Everything is finally coming together! People, events, my sleep schedule! Fun stuff!_

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It only took forever to Feitan, but when he saw two figures leaning on each other circle around from an outside cave, he quickly found himself not caring who saw him act the way he did.

He was soon in front of a limping Kurapika who was supported by Chrollo, hugging them both and squeezing them together.

He didn't care what the others said about their potential romance. Screw it. He was just glad they were alive. Machi was also visibly happy to see them, almost to the point of literal tears, which didn't happen very often. She went over and hugged Kurapika tightly, clutching onto him in a way that Feitan thought looked like it was for dear life. She took a glance at Chrollo, about to say something rude, but she didn't, instead thanking him for taking care of Kurapika.

After that, it was a flurry of happy reunions, even Chrollo getting his back patted on by Nobunaga and Pakunoda, who seemed glad to see their old friend alive. Feitan was slightly relieved to give up his position as leader. _It felt too soon_ he thought to himself. Then his phone buzzed, making him question what it was. He looked at it, seeing that the massage was from Shalnark.

 _Shalnark, 4:58 PM_

 _Hey! Feitan! If you get this message, you're close to the main bad guy!_

 _Oh, I should also mention that Uvogin and I are heading back! See you soon!_

Feitan reread it, seeing that it had sent yesterday. He hoped they'd catch up soon.

He turned back to see Machi stitching up Kurapika's thigh through a rip in their tribal skirt and pants, wiping at the dry blood when she could and scolding him on not finding them faster. He apologized happily, probably glad to be back around the troupe again.

Which reminded Feitan of what Nobunaga and Machi had said earlier, the thing about the romance. They didn't have time for it, Feitan knew that much, but he didn't care. If Nobuhide had brought it up in a time like this it must've been.

He sought out Chrollo, taking him to the side a bit until he was sure no one was going to hear them.

"Chrollo-"

"I wasn't able to stop him from getting that gash I swear."

"You- wait what?"

"Two of the demons we fought had devised a plan. They had been ordered to kill Kurapika but capture me so they-"

"Hold on a second, who ordered them?"

Chrollo's face went grim, and Feitan knew he wasn't going to like the answer.

"Leraje, my… fake brother."

Feitan grit his teeth.

"So he's alive too…"

"'Too?'"

"Oh right, we had a sweet encounter with the other one, Beleth, earlier. Went down far too quickly for my liking, but it doesn't matter. So Leraje made it off safely then?"

"Yes, he did."

"Well the only place to go is forward, so…" he turned around, to see that everyone was starting to get ready to move on, Pakunoda bothering Machi with a _you owe me a date now_ speech and Kurapika smiling giddily at Machi's embarrassed face. He turned back to Chrollo with a smile on his face.

"Let's go kick your ex-family's asses."

Chrollo sputtered a laugh but nodded in total agreeance.

"Of course."


	39. Chapter 39

_The last chapter of this update! If anyone can make any guesses on where I got inspiration from some of the settings here, feel free to comment/review where you think I got some of the details from!_

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They all walked down the path, the tunnels becoming so dark that candles and old lights flickering on and off were the only things that gave the cave a half decent lighting. At this point, demons stayed out of their way, many standing off to the side of the main hallway that seemed to be where their boss was. Chrollo couldn't figure out if it was due to respect, fear, or a plan to trap them in. Not that it mattered. Chrollo was confident in their ability to escape and fight them all if need be. He looked back at Kurapika, whom Machi was helping walk since she was more his height. He thought back to when he had held him cradled in his arms, remembering how fragile the blonde had seemed at the time. He didn't want to say it then, but he had to admit that despite some of his child like appearances that he had shown throughout knowing him, he looked serene and handsome while he slept, which were normally two words Chrollo would never use to describe someone else, yet here he was, describing the Phantom Troupe leader as such.

He recalled a few things that Nobuhide had told him, about how when he was really stubborn that a crease would form between his eyebrows, crooked and uneven but there nonetheless. An image of such popped into his head from a recent example, when the other day they had argued a bit over why aliens had avoided their world for so long. Kurapika had been convinced it was because the world lacked the proper technology to be considered civilized, whereas Chrollo believed it was because they just didn't want to interact with such selfish creatures. He almost smiled at the memory but forced it down. Now was not the time to do that.

But then what was the feeling of odd fondness he had when he learned of Kurapika's parents and when he had accidentally stood a bit too close to him in the cave? He didn't know. He didn't feel like he needed to know. All answers came with time, he had discovered, and that doing what he wanted was ultimately what lead him through his life. So he was going to do the same here. He would get to the bottom of the truth behind his fake family, and protect Kurapika. His mind quickly added Feitan and the rest of the Phantom Troupe in with the protecting comment, feeling like it was wrong to leave them out. He agreed.

They eventually encountered a large door, one with weird depictions of a fiery hellscape with beings that didn't look too far fetched from the ones that lined the hallway feeding a creature that looked like a mixture of horse with a scorpion tale and a human face, causing Chrollo to raise an eyebrow at the crude form of the creature. It seemed familiar, not that he'd know from where though.

The door was opened from the inside by none other than Leraje himself, who seemed to be in an extremely serving mood.

"Welcome guests, you are wanted as an audience inside." he said, bowing as best as he could, his horse half trying it's best to keep with his human counterpart as the green armor around his body clanked together at the movement.

No one said a word but they proceeded inside, the doors closing behind them when they did. They were greeted by multiple soft lights of computer monitors and the whirring of the machines at work, and in the center of it all, a large glass encasement glowing with a pale teal light, and a man standing before it, his face unseeable. They all made their way in fully, Kurapika walking past Chrollo as best as he could without making his limp seem too obvious. When he was at the front of the group, the rest of the troupe spread out, giving their host little room to negotiate if he wanted to attack them.

"Who are you?" Kurapika asked, his voice coming out strong and commanding. Chrollo tried to not seem so surprised by it, but he figured it was because he hadn't heard him use his voice like that in a while... He quite liked this voice.

The man standing in front of the glass encasement turned, the sight of him bringing Chrollo into a paralyzed state. He may have been older now, but he was definitely the same man. The one who had tortured him after he was captured, the man who could shift his face into anyone he had seen, the man who had lied to his face for almost half of his life.

"I am Abaddon Mammon." he said as he gave a grin that Chrollo knew was one that said _if only you knew better._ "I hope you're all ready to meet your ends."


	40. Chapter 40

_I'm sorry for not updating yesterday! I don't really have much of an excuse, I hope you'll forgive me._

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Kurapika didn't know what to do after he said that. He knew that Chrollo's captor's sons had been revived… but the captor himself? Kurapika tried to remember who was in charge of assassinating Abaddon, only to remember that had been Uvogin's job, and Uvogin wasn't there to clarify if he had, indeed, seen a dead body.

"What if I said I didn't believe you?" Kurapika asked, hoping the older man would explain himself.

"Oh I don't need you to, I'm telling you because you asked. But if you want proof," he said, looking past Kurapika to his left a bit. "Then all you need to do is ask my son."

Kurapika looked back at where Abaddon was looking to see Chrollo, and his face was enough to tell him what he needed. He turned his face back to the man, trying to think of how to get him to reveal what was going on.

"I'm sure you have so many questions." Abaddon said, smiling calmly at Kurapika again, as if he was his own child. Kurapika felt disgusted by the thought. "I will explain anything you might need to know. In fact, we can start now." he said, motioning for Leraje to come to him, the young man doing so as his armor clinked as he moved.

"As you see, I have created demons, but not just any demons. Artificial demons!" he said excitedly, taking a few steps down from his platform to meet his son, patting him on the shoulders as he did. "No one has been able to successfully mix the genes of humans and animals, but I was able to just a few years ago! I had done some earlier testing on some poor children who didn't survive, but the others! Oh how they flourished!"

Leraje seemed uncomfortable by his father's words but stayed put, the flicking of his tail the only other thing to show his agitation.

"Then, I thought, what about something to jazz things up?"

Someone to Kurapika's right snickered at the words "jazz things up" but Abaddon ignored it, seeming to be in his own world now.

"I created a hallucination drug for my tortures and an energy cell that could be implanted into my demon army to give them unlimited power!" he exclaimed excitedly, but then his face fell, and he looked over at Kurapika almost sadly. "Though it seems you have encountered a problem with your energy cell. I admit when it was first being used, it was outdated to the one we have now, since these can resist the electromagnetic waves… oh!" his face lit up at recognizing the problem. "Oh my dear boy it seems that it has shut off all access to your _nen_ simply because of those waves!"

He walked closer to him but Kurapika took a step back, making him stop to look at him curiously.

"Does my science not interest you? Well perhaps it is time I showed you what I can do-"

"Wasn't Plan 28DVH supposed to correlate with this more?" Kurapika instead asked, hoping to throw off Abaddon, but instead he smiled as if he were proud that Kurapika was asking questions now.

"No child, that was simply a decoy, something for people to place their focus in first, to make them _believe_ that my goal was just to rule the underworld. But no, I want more than that. I want to take over the world. Sure it would've been nice to take over with such peaceful tactics, but that didn't last long when you and your troupe decided to take me down." he said that last sentence as if it made him happy that it happened. "My main plan was making this army though, and I'm _oh so_ glad that I did! I was able to meet my long lost son who I thought was dead and one of my other children I was unable to adopt." he said in some type of crazed happiness.

"They're not yours you bastard." Feitan said stepping forward only to have Leraje blocking his way with an arrow ready on his bow and aimed at Feitan.

"Now now Leraje, he has the right to speak his mind." Abaddon said, waving the demon down, who took one more glance at Feitan before he reluctantly set his bow and arrow down. He backed up a bit but didn't let go of his weapon. Kurapika let out the breath he didn't know he was holding.

"But now enough of that chit chat, I want to show you a way that I have utilized my energy cells!" he said, having walked back up to the glass encasement, Kurapika now noticing that the object in it looked oddly like a human with extended ear, fingers, arms, and legs, it's long hair flowing throughout most of the tank.

Abaddon turned and looked over at Leraje, who gave him a confused look until he was addressed.

"Leraje, give me your energy cell."

That's when Leraje looked extremely panicked.

"Father? Are… Do you know what your-"

"Are you questioning me? I didn't think I raised you this way." Abaddon said with a sad look, one that Kurapika felt grossed out by. It was so… manipulative, and he hated it. This wasn't right.

"What does it mean if he gives over his energy cell?" Kurapika questioned instead, feeling the need to give Leraje some mercy, the poor centaur demon looking like he had just been sentenced to death.

"Very good question! Since his and most of the others' experimentations had been done with the aid of the energy cells that made sure that the RNA strands formed together properly, their bodies are now actually just larger energy cells! So if I decided to take his energy cell, his body would dissipate into the air and flow into me!"

Kurapika was left gaping in horror as Leraje stepped back, almost standing right next to Feitan, who didn't seemed too pleased by the answer himself and was probably ready to defend Leraje from the crazed old man in front of them.

"I won't allow it." Kurapika said, stepping forward. "It's wrong to take a life for something like that."

"And yet you had tried to kill me before. Isn't that hypocritical to say such a thing to me?"

"My reasons were justified, yours weren't. Yours is out of conquest, and mine out of revenge."

"Murder is murder my dear boy." Abaddon said, looking disapproving of the blonde's argument. "I think you of all people would know that."

"I do-"

"Silence!" Abaddon suddenly yelled, raising his hand towards Leraje, who coward when he did. "It seems you have forgotten who holds the power here."

Nothing happened for a while until Leraje made a startled noise, drawing everyone's attention to him, everyone too stunned at the sight to do much else other than watch as the demon's body started to fall apart into glowing teal orbs, the pieces of energy flowing back to Abaddon's hand and being absorbed in by the palm. Leraje silently began whimpering, as if he knew there was nothing they would be able to do. He turned to Chrollo who was still behind Kurapika, though much closer than the Spider head remembered him being.

"Hey Chrollo." Leraje started, swallowing before he continued. "Remember that game we always liked to play? The one where we could never die and all we did was just get more and more powerful?"

Chrollo nodded, as if it was a hard memory to conjure.

"Well, that's what this is now, but I'm not gonna die, I'm just... moving."

Chrollo looked like he was about to say something when Leraje moved what was left of his fading body and trotted over to Chrollo, placing his hands on his shoulders.

"I hope you win big brother."

He then burst into multiple orbs of light, circling around Chrollo until they sunk into his body, leaving him glowing with energy.

He looked just as surprised as everyone else in the room at the sudden change of pace, but Abaddon was the first to react, and violently.

"No! What a terrible son! What a piece of trash! All he ever did was cower behind Beleth! Oh well, it doesn't matter, but I still need more power…" then his eyes landed on Kurapika, and all of sudden he got a cold chill as Abaddon's smiled at him.

"It's a pity, but I think a bit of you will do. You, after all, haven't been subjugated to any experiments." he said, and then the creature behind him in the tank opened its eyes, its hair changing behind it as an arm reached out through the glass and its fingers snatched Kurapika from where he was, holding him tightly as it dragged him over to where Abaddon was.

"Kurapika!"

The blonde couldn't tell who had said it, or if it was just an individual or multiple who had said it at the same time, but time was slowing down for him. Before he even reached the old man, Machi was in front of Abaddon, ready to use her needle and thread on him, but she was slow too, and then she was stabbed through the gut with the creatures other hand, blood soaking its pale hands as Machi seemed paralyzed by the hit.

"Machi!" Kurapika heard himself yell, his mind becoming awake now due to the scene before him, his mind alerting him that he had activated his eyes. He didn't care.

She looked up at him and gave him an apologetic smile, something that made Kurapika feel tears come instantly to his eyes.

"Sorry Kura, I guess I should've been more careful." was what she said, before turning to look past him, where she put on another brave face. "And sorry Paku, I don't think you'll get that date like I promised."

Pakunoda made a sound of protest but was lost in the sound of the creature in glass howling in a low, hollow sound, that sounded like a haunting refrain. It removed its hand from Machi's abdomen, her body falling to the floor, her breaths ragged and short, and Pakunoda was there already, not paying attention to Abaddon as she took her over slightly to the side, getting her out of more harm's way. Phinks and Feitan stepped up, looking about ready to kill him when the creature moved Kurapika abruptly in front of Abaddon, his knees giving out when he landed, so that he was facing the doorway and Chrollo, Feitan and Phinks closer up and guarding the dying form of Machi and the desperate form of Pakunoda, but what was scariest of all was having his back to Abaddon. He tried to get up, move out of the way in some way, but his thigh gave off a sharp pain, making him grunt as Abaddon took ahold of his head and tilted it back, just enough to where he could see the old man's grinning face.

"You have something that is mine red eyed child." he said, and then Kurapika felt excruciating pain in his right eye.


	41. Chapter 41

_Ho boy wasn't that an interesting thing to leave off the previous chapter with? Honestly, you guys have no idea how long I had actually planned that scene from happening! Anyway, last update part 2 is now in session!_

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Chrollo almost couldn't bare to watch what had just happened, and felt terrible for starring in mortification at what Abaddon had done. In his hand he held a perfect red eye, still glowing and with fresh blood dripping from it as Kurapika collapsed to the floor screaming in pain and crying, his tears mixing in with the blood pouring from his eye socket.

Chrollo was the first to recover from what they had all seen, rushing over to Kurapika to see if he was alright.

"Oh dear me. Kurapika, don't you know? Crying is what people do when they are losing." Abaddon said in a disappointed tone. "Fear not child, you're not on the losing side, once I get enough power, you'll be able to live in peace with me and your other brothers and sisters."

Chrollo looked up at the man he had once considered his father and now felt nothing but disgust.

"And Chrollo, my dear boy, you're always welcome to join again." he continued, and Chrollo had to refrain from cursing at him, more worried about Kurapika's conscious and physical state then his proposal.

"I think you've done more than enough damage for one day." Feitan said, pulling out his umbrella as Phinks started to wind up his arm. "And let me tell you, you don't have very many fans right now."

Abaddon smiled at them as Feitan tried to stab the man with his umbrella, Phinks coming in on his right to try and punch at his side, but the hands from the creature in the glass prevented both things, even if it did shriek at the harm that it received.

Chrollo summoned his book to his hand, getting a surprised look from Abaddon.

"Now what could that be?"

Chrollo didn't answer, instead he flipped through a few pages, finding the one he wanted and activating it, white plated long fish appearing in the room, their boney structures swimming through the air without aim.

Abaddon seemed to eye them warily, but shrugged. Then, while looking Chrollo in the eye, he swallowed Kurapika's eye whole. That's when a fish dived towards Abaddon, just barely missing his arm, the creature in the glass trying to swat at the boney thing, but it swam out of the way, twisting in the air to meet up with its companion. Chrollo smiled cruelly, despising the man before him.

"Don't worry, the Indoor Fish won't hurt you. In fact, you won't be able to feel any pain at all." he said, as both of them swam down towards him, one of them catching his legs in their mouth and ripping it off.

Abaddon screamed, but it was short lived, as the walls around them began to shake.

Everything went eerily silent, and then it happened again. Then again. Soon the whole room was shaking continuously. When a few cracks showed in the ceiling and let light flood in, the Indoor Fish screeched and disappeared, the cracks only growing larger as the rumbling increased in magnitude. Soon, a large contraption fell through the roof, a drill falling straight onto the glass case holding the creature, its dying noises the last thing they heard before the contraption opened, revealing Shalnark, Uvogin, Nobuhide, and… who was that?

"That bastard! He's the one who killed Eidos and Anahita!" the large woman said, her red hair curly and most definitely holding a multitude of tools in it.

"Shush now Berathalum," Nobuhide said, jumping off of the machine they had fallen down in, taking a stand near Nobunaga. "We'll let you get a few shots at him, promise."

"Yeah Berry, what the old man said!" Uvogin said, stepping out of the contraption himself. Berry smiled evilly as she pulled down aviator goggles over her eyes and pulled out what seemed to look like a heavily modified machine gun.

"Dammit, we're a little late." Shalnark said, his face becoming pale when he saw the amount of blood around Kurapika. Chrollo began flipping the pages of his book when Abaddon got up, using the rubble to hold himself.

"You… how could you betray me?" Abaddon asked to Chrollo, the sound of the door behind him opening none of his concern as he found the page he was looking for, the symbols of the sun and moon imprinting themselves on the back of his hands. He summoned his bookmark.

"I couldn't have betrayed you, because I was never on your side." Chrollo answered, becoming aware that demons had started to enter the room, surrounding the troupe. "And at this point, I never will."

That seemed to set off the demon's around them, many of them attacking whoever was close by and instantly getting slaughtered.

Abaddon tried to make a move at Chrollo but was instead shot at by Berry, who laughed crazily as she did. Granted, Chrollo couldn't blame her, and he gladly let her give the first few hits on the old man; she had been in line first anyway. He instead half held Kurapika and moved him out of the way until a hand stopped him.

"I can fight, just, give me a second."

Chrollo looked down in surprise, Kurapika using him as a support to stand properly, summoning his chains on his hand easily now.

"Huh, guess he was right. His 'science' was holding me back. What good is science if it doesn't help anyone?" muttered Kurapika, and Chrollo would've laughed had he not been busy with defending himself and Kurapika at the same time.

"Healing Chain." Kurapika said, his only eye glowing red as the chain wrapped around his thigh, healing it instantly.

"You think that'll work for your other eye?" Chrollo wondered out loud, and Kurapika shrugged with a pained grunt.

"Time to find out."

The chain wrapped around his head this time, healing the spot on his right eye socket. Unfortunately, all it did was heal the spot, leaving only some scar tissue behind to even suggest it had been dug out by a mad man.

"I suppose it heals what's left of it."

"I suppose so." Chrollo said, flicking out his knife to stop a demon mid charge towards them. Then he looked at Kurapika, an eyebrow raised. He wanted to make a comment on how Kurapika's leg had already healed, and that there was no need for him to still be leaning on him for support, but he found that he didn't mind it. At all.

With his bookmark still in hand, he stuck it into his book and closed it, putting it in a jacket pocket, as he took a step gently away from Kurapika. When the blonde looked up at him he gave an apologetic look.

"This is one that's hard to control. It's best to avoid touching others with it."

Kurapika looked at Chrollo's hands but made no comment, instead flinging a chain past his head to knock out someone who had tried to charge him from behind.

"Don't worry about it. I'll cover you." he said smiling, and Chrollo had to pretend like he didn't just see heaven itself on Kurapika's face.

Chrollo turned to find Abaddon again, heading towards them with fury as Berry was reloading her gun.

"Do you consider yourself an enemy of the Phantom Troupe?" demanded Kurapika as Abaddon leaned against a wall in an attempt to keep himself balanced, and Chrollo recognized it as the same question he had been asked when they first met.

"I am an enemy to those who stand in my way!" The man replied angrily, some spit flying from his mouth, his arm injured from some stray bullet that had hit him.

"What if I then declared that the Phantom Troupe would stand in your way?" Kurapika added, face neutral to the questioning. It only seemed to make the old man agitated.

"Then I am the enemy of the Phantom Troupe!" Abaddon yelled, and that was all Kurapika needed to throw his chain at him, the hook at the end of it swinging around the old man's body and locking itself securely into place as Abaddon's face fell, his superiority act disappearing.

"Wait, wait you don't understand-"

"And for once, I don't want to." Kurapika said, holding the chain taut. "Now Chrollo, would you like to do the honors?"

"Gladly." Chrollo said, feeling the sun and moon seals on his hands glow as he started pushing forth _nen_ into them, gathering as much as he could from himself and from the energy given to him by Leraje. He walked forward carefully, placing the sigils onto Abaddon with haste, jumping back in time to have the man explode only seconds later.

The room became quiet again, the sound of fighting gone after the explosion had quieted. He looked around to see that the rest of the demons had been defeated, bodies piled everywhere, Shizuku getting to work on her immediate area with Blinky. Everyone from Berry to Kortopi were staring at the spot where Abaddon used to be, each with varying degrees of satisfaction at the man's death. It felt too easy, but he probably had his brother to thank for the extra help. It probably would've taken four tries to kill that man.

He inspected the area where Abaddon was, finding that the only thing left there was a dirtied golden ring that he then crushed, not wanting to take any chances. The chain on the ground started rolling back, and Chrollo followed it all the way up to when it reached the Spider head's feet, and then Chrollo skipped after that.

He looked up at Kurapika's face, who had looked back at him in the same moment, his face slightly shocked at what he had done. Chrollo immediately felt awkward, but Kurapika looked away first, his face tinted a slight hue of pink. He walked past Chrollo quickly and went to where everyone had now gathered around Machi, trying to keep her still breathing. Chrollo followed, unknowing of what else to do and without any other options to do much else. He did want to at least see her before she went though.

When he got there, he heard Machi's draining voice talking to Kurapika.

"No, don't you dare use that on me. It can't fix this. It may be able to heal things, but if it wasn't able to bring your eye back, then it won't be able to bring my organs back."

"But Machi-"

"No buts kid. You heard me. Hey, Chrollo, come here. I can see your dumb head standing in the back, get hauling." she said quite loudly from her position, and Chrollo came forward, kneeling next to her body, seeing that her head rested on Pakunoda's lap. His eyes wandered to her abdomen, where there was a large tear in her skin, a few organs clearly missing and a few others just ripped in half. Blood and other fluids were everywhere, but Machi brought a hand in front of his view and snapped at him, bringing his attention to her face again.

"Listen, do you remember how I said I didn't remember you? Well, I actually remembered. A few minutes ago when you used your ability, stupidly enough. You were always that kid that had a book in his hand wherever he went. What a nerd, still using a book during battle. You haven't changed one bit." she said, cracking a smile at him.

Chrollo felt touched at the words, despite their harsh language. Machi had always been like that anyway, too embarrassed by kindness, and treating others roughly back, her only way to really show what she meant. He smiled back at her.

"If it's any help, you haven't changed either."

"Oh I'm sure." Machi said, coughing a bit before she continued. "Now let me die in peace you fools. A woman can only get so much peace and quiet in her lifetime before she's gone."

The troupe looked at each other, most of them silently agreeing to leave, either out of respect for her wish or to hide the fact that they were already crying, like Phinks. Only Pakunoda, Kurapika, and Chrollo stayed, Machi muttering something about being stubborn assholes but said nothing else to get them to leave. They were all silent when her breaths started to even out, then slowly become still.

After a few seconds of her body becoming still, Pakunoda confirmed that she had passed away in her sleep.


	42. Epilogue

_IT'S FINALLY THE END GUYS! ;W; It was a long way coming, but I'm overjoyed with how many of you liked this and how much feedback I got on it! I really need to thank my sister more for beta-ing this monster of a project as it developed, and also to my friends who supported me through the last few grueling days of me typing this out all out last minute. I would also like to thank all of you for reading this! I hope you guys enjoy this ending and have a wonderful Kurokura filled day!_

* * *

They held Machi's funeral in a place that Pakunoda and Nobunaga had said she'd mentioned at least a dozen times over, a field with wildflowers as far as the eye could see and blue mountains in the distance. She was buried in the middle of the meadow, using the soil around her grave to plant year-round flowers, her gravestone the only thing that stood out of place.

A week afterwards and Berry had decided to return back to the Lukso province, but not before giving both Shalnark and Kurapika a heartfelt goodbye, saying that she was glad they were alright. She then went on to say how much they had grown and then gave Shalnark a stern look before leaving on her plane, which had since been updated and improved since their initial trek to Meteor City.

A month or so afterwards and Nobunaga and Uvogin decided to spend some time with Nobuhide again, having been convinced by Nobunaga's dad that it had been "really too long since you boys have stayed over! Oh, why don't we invite Shalnark and Kurapika as well?" to which Kurapika declined, saying he still had stuff to do, but Shalnark caved, deciding that maybe it _had_ been too long.

During that time, Kurapika ended up getting an eyepatch to cover where his eye used to be, no matter how many times he assured people that it was fine and that it wouldn't get infected. Bonolenov admitted that the empty eye socket creeped him out, which was rich coming from the guy that literally had holes all over his body. Classic Bonolenov.

Within the next month Pakunoda and Kortopi disappeared without telling anyone where they were going, and Bonolenov had claimed he would go back to his village to pay them a visit. Two months after Bonolenov departed to visit his tribe, Shizuku, Phinks, and Franklin thought it was time for a vacation for them all, thinking it'd be fun to finally relieve some stress in a relaxing place with some popular hot springs.

Four months after those three disappeared and Feitan finally returned home after helping Kurapika finish ridding the caves of evidence of experimentation and demon remnants. Chrollo accompanied Feitan to see his surprised mother, who cried tears of joy at seeing Chrollo alive and well, and at the fact that they had both grown up so fast. Chrollo dismissed himself after a few hours of catching up, claiming important work that he needed to wrap up. When he walked outside of the house, Kurapika was leaning against the doorframe waiting for him.

"You sure took your sweet time."

"She was my adoptive mother after all. She thought I was gone for good." Chrollo defended, Kurapika nodding knowingly.

"Don't fret, I'm not mad about it or anything. She deserves your time more than I do." Kurapika said, crossing his arms across his chest. Chrollo stayed silent for a moment, looking at Kurapika's face as it became increasingly closer to the shade of a tomato before he decided to say anything.

"Don't be embarrassed, that was nice of you to say." Chrollo said, patting Kurapika's head, who waved his hand at his arm unceremoniously to try and get it away.

"As if I'm worried about that." Kurapika huffed, but Chrollo smiled at him regardless of it.

"It's been awhile since we've seen each other." he said instead, gaining him a look from Kurapika, who opted to look away as soon as he did.

"Well it's to be expected. We've had a lot of things to do. Me with my hiding the evidence of a giant demon army ever existing and you with regaining all of your memory spots."

Chrollo chuckled. Kurapika gave him a sideways glance.

"What?"

"Didn't your birthday pass without _you_ even noticing?" Chrollo asked, causing Kurapika to stop, counting the months that had passed in his head, then he squinted his eyes.

"Who told you when my birthday was?"

"Everyone did. They seemed very keen on letting me know." Chrollo said, turning around to look back at the blonde. He gave a smug smile. "I still can't believe you forgot your own birthday."

Kurapika felt heat rise to his cheeks again, unbelieving that everyone was in on trying to get Chrollo to like him.

"I did not. Just because I didn't celebrate it doesn't mean I forgot."

"Well then let's celebrate." Chrollo said, walking forward to him. "We can go right now if you'd like."

"I… what?" Kurapika asked, unable to comprehend what he was being offered.

Chrollo's smile stayed on his face, but now his face was just a little pink now.

"I'm offering to take you on a date for your birthday. Turning eighteen is a big deal for some people, and I thought you might want to enjoy that."

The word 'date' floated around Kurapika's head, but he forced himself to take it at face value, his resolve crumbling in only seconds when he looked into Chrollo's eyes.

"For what reason other than it's my birthday? People just don't take other people out on dates without a better reason than that." Kurapika accused, though at this point he could tell he was just being stubborn, maybe even trying to squash his feeling that he knew had stuck around since the incident so long ago now.

Chrollo sighed, running a hand through his hair, his face officially a tint redder than it was beforehand.

"I didn't think I'd have to say it so blatantly, but I want to take you out on a date because I like you."

"Like me?" Kurapika repeated skeptically, and he could have swore that Chrollo could not get any more red, but he managed to.

"Like like-like."

"I'm afraid I don't understand."

"Kurapika!" Chrollo said exasperatedly, grabbing onto the blonde's shoulders. "I mean that I love you!"

Kurapika's mouth gaped open, and even though he closed it, it fell right back open, shock still present in his body.

"You… I… what…?"

"I love you Kurapika." Chrollo repeated, with slightly more confidence, though the Phantom Troupe leader could tell that it wasn't by much. "Since, embarrassingly enough, the time that I told you I hated you."

Kurapika had to hold back laughter, Chrollo making a scrunched up face that spoke 'shame' when he did it, and Kurapika found it adorable.

"I was in denial, okay?" Chrollo stated, and all Kurapika did was shake his head giggling.

Chrollo sighed and let go of his shoulders, face back to normal when he did and about to give up when Kurapika held onto them, placing them back onto his shoulders.

"I love you too." he said smiling, kissing Chrollo on the lips lightly, pulling back and seeing the most wonderfully flattered and surprised face he had ever seen that quickly reduced the man in front of him into a blushing mess, covering his face with his own hands. When it seemed as if Chrollo had calmed down, he looked down at Kurapika, smiling but still blushing like mad.

"Is it alright if I…?"

Kurapika smiled gently.

"Mmhmm."

And then they kissed again, this time slower and with more hesitance, but it was just as good, and both of them couldn't help but smiling when they accidentally bumped noses once or twice. Chrollo's fingers found the back of his head, one of them tracing at the cross tattoo on the back of his neck, and the feeling of it made Kurapika feel warm on the inside, and he didn't want it to stop. Changing things up a bit, he tilted his head the other way, managing to avoid hitting Chrollo's nose again, and then wrapped his arms around his waist to pull him closer. Chrollo made no complaint of what was done and adjusted to it, and they continued like that for a while before separating for air, both of them grinning at the other.

"We're not to good at this, are we?" Chrollo asked, laughing to himself. Kurapika agreed.

"No, we're not. But I suppose that's what practice is for."

"Wait, are you-" Chrollo looked flustered at the aspect of testing it out more but Kurapika was already way ahead of him.

"So about that date you were talking about, where would that be exactly?"

Chrollo paused, seeming to try and catch Kurapika's pace, and the blonde waited, until Chrollo finally swallowed and retracted his hands from Kurapika's hair and putting them into his coat pockets.

"It's a bit out of the way but the location is in a city near here. It's nice bakery place in a small nook of the town with very little traffic and decent hot beverages." Chrollo informed him, offering his hand to Kurapika, who took it happily. "They also have some pretty good cupcakes if you like those."

"That sounds nice." Kurapika commented, letting Chrollo lead the way to where they were headed. Chrollo hummed his gratitude of the blonde's approval, and they walked in silence until Kurapika nudged the dark haired man's side.

"When this is done, I want to take you the Lukso province. To meet my parents… Is that okay?" Kurapika asked, looking up at Chrollo, whose eyes were shining in warm way.

"Of course." he said smiling kindly. "I would be overjoyed to."

They managed to make it all the way to the older man's car before Chrollo made a comment on how Kurapika looked like a pirate with an eyepatch. Before Kurapika could retort though, he followed up with how he would "tap that booty" as well, leaving both of them embarrassed and pretending like it never happened. And as it turned out, the cupcakes at the bakery were splendid.


End file.
